A Rose By Any Other Name
by Drow79
Summary: What would you do if you were forced to live another person's life? What if you knew how their actions would play out in the future? Would you change it to suite your tastes or just let the chips fall where they may? You see we all make choices but in the end it's our choices that make us. (Takeover fiction).
1. Those aren't mine!

**I don't own RWBY it belongs to Monty and the Roosterteeth crew.**

**So I was bored and this idea won't leave me alone so decided to write it down to get it out of my head. Don't really know how to describe it except as a OC insert mixed with and OOC Ruby. Anyway just wanted to get the idea out there see what people thought please forgive bad writing was first fic I've done...so yeah enjoy.**

* * *

Do you ever get that feeling that something bad is about to happen, the feeling when every instinct screams that this is a stupid and dangerous idea? A better question, do you ever listen to it? Trust me when I tell you that those instincts exist for a reason and they are rarely, if ever, wrong. In hindsight it really was a stupid idea. I had just spent the whole day at a friend's house watching anime due to start of the school holidays and didn't notice that it was almost night. I lived relatively close by and I didn't want to bother my friend and his parents, so despite the bad feeling growing in the pit of my stomach, I decided to walk home… as you can guess it didn't go well.

"I'll see you later mate" Red called as she began the long walk back to her home.

"Be careful on your way home little Red" he teased smirking.

She frowned, that nickname had stuck ever since Halloween and he refused to call her anything else. Turning down the street she looked down at her watch, she wouldn't get home until at least 8 at this rate_._ Red looked up at the storm brewing in the distance with a growing sense of unease.

"Aw screw it, time for a short cut," she muttered.

Walking off the main road she began scaling buildings, leaping from roof top to roof top as her parkour training kicked in. She was about half way home when Red felt the first drop on her face, cursing she began to pick up speed not wanting to be caught in the downpour for too long. As Red leapt over to another roof top her foot slipped on the wet tiles, eyes widening and screaming, she fell until Red heard a loud crack and everything went black.

* * *

Red snapped awake. Looking around she noticed that she was in a bed that wasn't hers' and there were curtains surrounding her bed.

"Must be in the hospital. Thank god I wasn't killed. Note to self: next time you get a bad feeling about something, listen to it." she muttered to herself in an oddly high pitch voice as she threw the sheets off.

"What the hell!" she said, her voice full of shock.

Her clothes were different. Granted, this was a hospital and this would be expected, but wouldn't a hospital give her a white gown or robe to wear? Why was she wearing a red and black skirt and corset combo with a red hooded cloak on her back? Her brow furrowed. Did the hospital staff decide to play a prank or something? No, it doesn't sound like something a doctor would do. Also, why does it look familiar?

Deciding to put the question aside for now, Red turned to the window and her jaw dropped open. The moon was broken, part of it shattered almost as if someone had taken a bite out of it. Again a feeling of familiarity came over her. She had definitely seen this before, but where?

Looking out the window she noticed something in the reflection; a young girl with silver eyes was sitting literally right behind her. "Hi my name's-huh where'd you go?"

Looking around, there was no sign of the girl. The door was even still closed. "Okay seriously what… the …..hell?" her voice trailed off as a she saw her reflection in a mirror, only it wasn't hers.

It was the girls. "No way…" Red exclaimed, only now noticing her voice wasn't hers.

The girl was probably around 15, clad in red and black with silver eyes. Red's now silver eyes widened and her face grew pale as her brain finally put two and two together. The moon, her reflection, that could only mean one thing but that was impossible. Wasn't it?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the door opening and a well-endowed blond walk in. "Ruby! Thank God you're ok we were all really worried" she exclaimed while rushing over and crushing Red in a painful bear hug.

Red looked at her with confusion and disbelief "Ruby?"

* * *

This couldn't be happening. Why would she be trapped, not only in the world of RWBY, but as the main character herself? It had to be a dream, right? Wincing from the painful hug she was still encased in threw that option out the window.

Her inner panic must have shown on her face as Yang looked at her sister, clearly worried. "Ruby, you okay?"

'Crap okay think what do I say? I'm not actually Ruby and you're all a fictional universe that is watched for entertainment? Yeah that'll go over well. My acting skills aren't good enough to fool everyone into thinking I'm actually Ruby! That's it!'

Red struggled out of Yang's embrace and looked at her with very real confusion "Ruby? You talk to gems? Anyway, who are you and, more importantly, who am I?"

Red felt her heart winch as Yang's expression turned from one of joy to horror, 'well at least I know it's working'.

"Ruby if this is a joke it is not funny," Yang chocked out.

"Listen Blondie I have no idea who the hell this Ruby is or you for that matter," Red shouted.

Yang reared as if slapped before grabbing Red's arm and sprinted down the hallways knocking any unfortunate student out of the way before stopping in front of a door. "Headmaster, we've got a serious problem here. It's an emergency".

* * *

The tension in the room was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Red sat in the middle of the room facing Ozpin at his desk. After Yang told the headmaster the situation he immediately called the rest of team RWBY and JNPR. "So" he began "you don't remember anything at all Miss Rose?"

"Not a damn thing" she lied.

"I see. Very well, go with Miss Xiao Long to the RWBY dorms maybe being around your friends will jog your memory." he dismissed them with a wave of his hand.

A sigh escaped Red as she felt everyone's eyes on her the entire way to the dorms. Yang showed her to Ruby's bed, the floating death trap know as fort Ruby. 'It's going to be a long night'.


	2. Red Reaper

**I don't own RWBY if I did we would have seen Ozpin vs Roman.**

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_Ruby stood motionless on the cliff the only movement coming from her cloak gently flowing with the wind. It was that time of the year again and it never got any easier. As if hearing her thoughts the sky began weeping frozen tears adding to the seemingly serine winter wonderland. Looking down on the well maintained grave Ruby noted that it looked just as fresh as the day it was made, the words 'Summer Rose, Thus I Kindly Scatter' burning themselves into her mind. Unable to look any longer she turned and began the long walk back home, smiling as she noted movement out of the corner of her eye, at least she'd have some fun today. Walking though the forest she noted the black shapes were multiplying the further she went in. Arriving in a clearing Ruby found herself surrounded by a pack of Beowolves. Snarling three of them charged her attempting to overwhelm her with their surprise and speed only to bite into rose petals. High above them Ruby unsheathed Crescent Rose in the gun form before shooting one in the head killing it instantly. Diving into the other two Ruby began shooting them at point blank ripping huge chunks off their bodies, before switching to the scythe form and turning to face the rest of the pack. Enraged by the death of their comrades the Beowolves howled before the entire pack charged only to meet the deaths at the hands of the Red Reaper._

Red awoke in a cold sweat, feeling as though she just ate a couple of pounds of coffee. Walking into the bathroom, careful not to wake any of the others she rinsed her face, staring at the foreign reflection in the mirror.

"So tell me who's really the loneliest of them all?" giving a dark chuckle Red left the dorm subconsciously grabbing Crescent Rose.

* * *

After getting bored of walking down the halls of Beacon Red found herself on the roof staring up at the sky. High places always made her feel better when she was worried about something, it was the real reason she took up parkour. Thinking back on what happened last night it became clear that it was too real to be a dream which left only one option, 'it was a memory but why and how did I see it?'

"Ruby! There you are, get down here Yang's been worried sick," shouted a very worried Jaune.

Red jumped unfortunately activating Ruby's semblance in the process, causing her to crash into the poor blonde. "Augh that was not fun, sorry mate," said Red apologizing as she got off him.

"So kay I've dealt with worse, come on its breakfast time and we've got to hurry if we want any pancakes, Nora will make sure of that," he jokingly replied.

* * *

To say that it was an interesting breakfast would be an understatement, Yang instantly berated her for going off on her own after which both team RWBY and JNPR wouldn't let her out of their sight. Suddenly a heavenly smell filled her nose, letting it lead her to the source she found a plate of freshly baked cookies. Eyes widening and licking her lips Red grabbed the entire bowl before beginning the cookie massacre, not even a crumb was left.

"I don't believe it, even with amnesia she still acts like a kid" complained Weiss.

Red frowned Weiss was right she never acted like this especially not for something as simple as cookies, even if they were cooked to perfection with just the right amount of choc chip. Drool began trickling down Red's face before she shook the thoughts out of her head. After her meal the teams began to 'reintroduce' themselves, everything was going fine until it was Jaune's turn.

"Hi I'm team JNPR's leader, the names Jaune Arc, short, sweet, rolls off the tongue," he boasted

"Ladies love it," she finished smirking.

That got everyone a good laugh before realizing what she'd said "Ruby do you remember anything?" questioned Blake.

Red cursed realizing her mistake "umm…well you see it just…came to me," she replied, grinning as she rubbed the back of her head.

Blake clearly wasn't convinced but before she could question her further their attention was drawn by the sound of a girl crying in pain. Looking over showed Cardin picking on the bunny Faunus Velvet, 'hmm if the timeline follows the episodes then that means I'm roughly at episode 11'.

Grateful to have the attention diverted off her Red sat down and began listening to the teams talking to Jaune about Cardin's bullying. Unable to stop herself from laughing at the mention of being launched from a rocket locker, which earned her a glare from Pyrrah.

"Sorry, but if this Cardin is such a problem then why don't we just break his legs?" she asked, putting on her best innocent girl act.

"SEE I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO THINKS WE SHOULD!" bellowed Nora.

"It's not that simple Ruby, if we attack him we could get in serious trouble," explained Pyrrah.

A smile grew on Red's face, "so if it was self-defense it would be fine right? Thanks Pyrrah that's all I need to know, hey Nora you might want to film this," getting up Red walked over to team CRDL.

"Hey Cardin! Why do you keep doing this just accept it, you'll never be the man your mother is," Red smirked as Cardin's face turned as red as her cloak.

"WHAT WAS THAT SHRIMP!" roared Cardin as he turned to face her.

"Oh nothing just wondering what highway you were born on since that's where most accidents happen," Red continued with a wave of her hand.

Cardin growled before unsheathing his mace "You want to go me bitch," his voice deadly calm.

Red smiled, 'just one more should do it'.

"Now now Cardin put that down you should know two wrongs don't make a right, I mean look at your parents."

You could hear a pin drop in the normally loud and energetic cafeteria, a crowd of people had begun to gather, watching to see who would make the first move. Suddenly Cardin roared and slammed his mace down in an overhead strike. Red's body began moving by itself dodging to the side, leaving a trail of petals in her wake. Unsheathing Crescent Rose from her back Red launched herself towards him, slamming the blunt end of the scythe into Cardin's stomach. The bully flew through the air before hitting and overturning a table. Seeing her chance Red leapt over the table her scythe becoming nothing but a red whirlwind of slashing and smashing. Cardin tried to defend himself as best he could but was no match for Red's speed and inevitably the fight ended with Red smashing him with Crescent Rose embedding him into a wall.

As the adrenaline finally left her system Red sheathed Crescent Rose and walked back to the table. Red frowned in confusion 'how the hell did I do that? It felt like I'd done it my whole life' any other thoughts were interrupted by the commotion caused by team RWBY and JNPR.

"THAT WAS AWESOME YOU NEED TO TEACH ME HOW TO DO THAT!" begged Nora.

"And don't worry I filmed all of it," she whispered to Red.

"Well Miss Rose if you are done attacking our students I believe the headmaster would like a word," stated a very annoyed voice.

Red's face paled as she turned to see an angry Glynda Goodwitch staring down at her. 'Crap'.

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**Hey guys so this story got more support then I expected it to so I decided to continue it. Also please tell me what you think of fight scene I'm thinking of doing more in the future and would like advice on them. Anyway don't expect an update for a while I need to take some time to figure out where to take the story. As usual please forgive bad grammar, thanks.**


	3. Heroes

**Ok sorry for the wait but I have a rough idea for how this story is going to pan out. It will stick with the cannon for a little while depending on season 2 of RWBY. As always please forgive bad gramma. Also thanks to Jacklyn Frost for the review it was helpful.**

**I don't own RWBY if I did Jaune would be more badass.**

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One thing must be said about Ozpin's office, it had a great view. Red looked down on Beacon while Goodwitch informed Ozpin of the cafeteria beat down. Her customary smirk growing on her face as she listened.

"Thank you Glynda that will be all," dismissed Ozpin.

"Of course headmaster," replied Goodwitch as she left.

Red watched her go surprised. She expected Glynda to demand a form of punishment for her after the incident not leave without a fuss. Turning she noticed Ozpin gesturing her to take a seat with his trademark mug.

"Well Miss Rose it seems that despite your lack of memory you were able to successfully fight and defeat a fellow hunter, and a team leader at that." He frowned, putting down the mug and looking Red in the eye. "Care to explain hmm?"

Red's heart began to rival Ruby's semblance, her smirk instantly vanished. 'Does he suspect something?' she thought panicky. Realizing that the silence only made her more suspicious she forced her heart back to a normalish pace and took a deep breath.

"Honestly headmaster I don't know how I did that my body just began moving on its own, I didn't even realize what I was doing until Cardin was face first in a wall," Red looked at Crescent Rose on the desk, "even though I've never used it before it felt natural in my hands".

Ozpin nodded as he listened his eyes never leaving her's, as if searching for a sign of a lie before handing Crescent Rose to her. An awkward silence passed as he began looking at Red with calculating expression that made her instantly want to be somewhere else.

"Interesting it seems that even with the memories gone your body and instincts still remember their training," he mused.

Picking up his coffee Ozpin stood and turned to look out at Beacon below. "Miss Rose I am clearing you to continue your duties as a huntress, make sure you come to all classes, your condition will not be an acceptable excuse."

'What?' blinking she just sat there trying to make sense of what he said, before jumping out of her chair arms flailing.

"Headmaster wait, I can understand going to classes to help my amnesia but how on earth am I supposed to fight in combat class let alone against Grimm?" her voice raising several octaves.

Not even bothering to turn and look at her, he simply took another sip of his coffee. "This incident taught us that you're still as skilled a fighter as you were before the accident and that's all the proof I need."

Red was about to protest further but was stopped by Ozpin's raised hand, the atmosphere of the room making her hair stand on ends. "Unless of course you'd like to face the consequences of a non-student attacking one of Beacons hunters in training?" he continued, his voice a soft whisper yet clear as a bell.

Every instinct screamed at Red to leave the room immediately as her hand began slowly reaching for Crescent Rose. Instead she just nodded her head and got up to leave but was stopped by Ozpin's voice at the door.

"By the way Miss Rose that was an interesting phrase you just used, I wonder what is this 'Earth' you mentioned hmm?"

As Red quickly left the room Ozpin opened one of his desk draws and grabbed a blue and green sphere. As he placed it on the desk he smiled looking over the orb.

"Looks like things are turning out to be a very interesting year."

* * *

Red ran down the halls of beacon leaving a trail of petals in her wake, attempting to get as much distance between her and Ozpin as possible. Finally calming herself down Red went up to the roof only to find it occupied by Pyrrha and Jaune. 'This must be when Pyrrha offers to train him but isn't it a bit early for that,. Maybe I'm mistaken it has been awhile since I watched it. Wait a minute that means Cardin's listening down below, crap'.

Opening the door she walked up to them waving "Hey Jaune, Pyrrha what's up? You two on a secret date or something?" her trademark smirk returning.

Both their faces immediately turned crimson as they stuttered a reply.

Red continued, "You know this spot is great for the view and all but not good for keeping secrets, you never really know if people are eavesdropping on you, right Cardin?"

All three heard a grumble as a window slammed shut below them. Both of them turned to Red relief and gratitude in their eyes. Jaune especially as he realized just how close he'd come to revealing his secret, to Cardin of all people.

Smiling Red turned to Jaune, "Jaune, what do you think a hero is?"

He seemed taken aback by the question before answering, "someone strong, who cares for others and protects them, someone great in every way."

Pyrrha looked at Red, nodding in understanding before turning back to Jaune, "tell me Jaune do you think heroes are born strong, no they had people help them become strong, and they had the drive to get stronger to protect what they care about."

Pyrrha grabbed Jaune's shoulder, "great men aren't born Jaune, they are made."

Jaune looked down at his feet, "I don't belong here, I'm a coward who lied and cheated to get here, I don't deserve to be here. Even Ruby stood up to Cardin despite having amnesia, whereas I watched from the sidelines."

"Nope," Red replied cheerfully popping the _p_. "Jaune courage isn't the absence of fear or despair but rather the strength to conquer them."

"Besides," she continued giving his arm a friendly punch. "I don't know of many cowards who would willingly sneak into a school designed to fight monster and full of warriors who could beat the crap out of them."

Jaune looked up at her before smiling, "yeah not my brightest idea huh?"

"Thanks guys I really appreciate it and Pyrrha I'm sorry for how I acted before would you please train me?"

Pyrrha's expression brightened before pushing him over, "your stance is all wrong."

Red giggled before turning around and walking back to her dorm, "I'll see you guys in class tomorrow."

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**Well there you go chapter 3 hope you liked it.**


	4. Classes

**I don't own RWBY if I did Roman would get more lines.**

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Red arrived at her dorm only to hear noises coming from within. Pushing herself up against the door she heard the voices of the rest of team RWBY arguing about something.

"She's hiding something from us," stated Blake.

Red cursed softly. She was hoping Blake had forgotten what happened earlier due to the Cardin incident.

"Well she did just lose all her memory of us so I'm not surprised she doesn't trust us yet," countered Weiss.

"That's just it Weiss, I don't think she lost her memory or at least not completely," replied Blake.

"What! That's ridiculous why would Ruby pretend to have amnesia?" exclaimed Weiss.

"I don't know but you saw her reaction in the cafeteria, she didn't seem surprised at all by our names and then there's her reaction with Jaune," returned Blake.

'Damn it, Blake's far more observant then I gave her credit for' Red thought frowning.

"It could be coincidence," Weiss weakly replied.

"No Weiss she's right, remember how Blake called her out asking if she remembered anything," sighed Yang, drawing shocked looks from everyone including Red.

"Ruby reacted the exact same way she does when she's hiding something important," continued Yang.

Red frowned, she didn't think she'd done anything to give herself away. Besides why would she act like Ruby does to lie? It didn't make sense, if anything she'd act like herself not Ruby.

"Well if you think so Yang I'll believe it, after all she is your sister," replied a shocked Weiss.

"Is she?" questioned a depressed Yang, "honestly sometimes it feels like I'm talking to a stranger wearing my sister's skin."

Red just stood there staring at the door handle. Part of her wanted to open the door and come clean while another wanted to run as far away as possible. Shaking her head as she realized how stupid she must look just standing outside her dorm, she took a deep breath and opened the door. Only to find all of team RWBY asleep in their beds, sighing with relief she climbed up onto Fort Ruby, trying to ignore the growing sense of guilt.

* * *

"_YANG, YANG!" Ruby's voice carried across the small house as she searched room by room for her big sister._

_Yang came stumbling out of the backyard, her face glistening with sweet. Grabbing her sister by her hood as she passed and clamping a hand over Ruby's mouth._

"_Alright Ruby I'm here no need to let half the neighbourhood hear you," she said taking her hand off, "so what's up?"_

_Ruby grabbed a box from behind her and gave it to Yang. Confused Yang opened it up to reveal two shiny yellow gauntlets. Ruby smiled as Yang's eyes widen and began tracing the gauntlets with her hands._

"_I just wanted to congratulate you for getting into Signal sis, so I made these for you since I know dad's been training you in hand to hand combat," she explained._

_Yang looked at her sister, tears welling in her eyes, "Ruby I… I don't know what to say."_

"_A thank you would be a start," she joked._

_Yang grabbed Ruby crushing her in a bear hug, tears streaming down her face, "thankyouthankyouthankyouyou'rethebestsisterever."_

"_Yang…please stop….can't breathe," choked out Ruby._

"_So," taking deep breaths after being freed, "what are you going call them?" she asked._

_Yang smiled, "these two gauntlets will be a holy fire to burn through the darkness, they will be Ember Celica."_

Red woke up red and teary eyed. 'It happened again and of course it had to be about Yang,' she thought depressed. Quietly getting off her bunk she got changed into Ruby's school uniform and looked up her schedule. She had Grimm Studies with Prof. Port first at 9 followed by History with Prof. Oobleck and unfortunately finishing the day with combat class with Prof. Goodwitch.

Sighing Red felt something in her jacket pocket. Curious she reached in and pulled out a silver whistle. She smirked as she remembered just where she'd seen it before. Quietly creeping up to Weiss she put the whistle to her mouth and blew.

* * *

Yang was enjoying her dreams of happier times with Ruby when she was woken by a loud shrill note piecing her dreams, followed by a nostalgic "GOOD MORNING TEAM RWBY!"

Snapping her eyes open Yang saw Ruby laughing as Weiss fell out of her bed screaming. Unable to keep a straight face she burst out into laughter alongside her. Even Blake couldn't keep a smile forming on her face at the sight of the heiress falling flat on her backside. For a brief moment everything seemed back to normal and Yang couldn't be happier.

That was until Ruby saw her and her laughter ceased as she turned to look away, the guilty look on her face didn't go unnoticed by all of them. The look was gone in an instant though, so quickly that they almost thought they had imagined it.

"So Ruby, what are you doing up so early?" she asked.

"Well Yang, Ozpin said that I was cleared to resume my huntress duties including class," explained Ruby.

Yang flinched at the sound of her name, before smiling, "well that sucks now you have to suffer through Port's stories of when 'he was a young lad'," giving her best Port impersonation.

Ruby snorted, "I'm sure it's not that bad".

Grimm Studies was as boring as usual with the professor lost in tales of his 'gallant' past again. Yang snorted, half of them were probably lies and the other half exaggerated to the point where they were unrecognisable. Throughout it all she kept an eye on Ruby, she was definitely hiding something, that much Yang knew but what? It was odd sometimes she acted like her sister, this morning and the cookies being prime examples, yet at the same time acted like a completely different person, more mature, weary of people in general and much more vengeful. Groaning in relief as the bell rang she grabbed Ruby, much to her protest, and they walked on to History.

History with Prof. Oobleck was nowhere near as boring as Grimm Studies, provided someone can keep up with his insane coffee high. Just watching him dart from corner to corner made her feel ill, she had no idea how Vomit Boy could handle it. Looking over at the said blonde she noticed he was falling asleep on his desk, 'hmm must have had a late night.' Unfortunately it seemed Cardin had also noticed but before he could begin to harass Jaune he was pelted by paper thrown from Ruby. Crying out he drew Prof. Oobleck's attention.

"Ah, Mr. Winchester finally about to contribute to class, excellent excellent! What advantage did the Faunus have against General Lagune's forces?" questioned the professor.

Everyone turned to look at Cardin who had the expression of a deer caught in headlights. The silence broken by Ruby snickering in the background. Cardin turned to glare at her before looking back to the professor.

"Well I know it's a lot easier to train an animal then a soldier," he arrogantly stated.

"You're really not an open minded person are you Cardin?" commented Ruby.

Everyone turned from glaring at team CRDL to see Ruby with her trademark grin. Yang began sending hand signals to tell her to stop but she either didn't understand or didn't care.

"What you got a problem?" he demanded rising up from his chair.

Immediately Yang stood up ready to tackle Cardin if necessary. A brief look around showed Blake, Pyrrha and Nora doing the same with the rest of team CRDL.

"No I have the solution," she said before turning to Prof. Oobleck. "It's night vision, most Faunus are known to have near perfect vision in the dark. The General's forces were out matched and he was captured, maybe if he paid attention in class he wouldn't have been known as such a failure," finished Ruby.

Seething Cardin sat down, Yang also took her seat confused. 'If she has amnesia then how does she know that? We were only taught it a week ago.' Frowning she turned to Blake receiving a subtle nod in return, she wasn't the only one that noticed. As the period bell rang team RWBY made their way to combat class.

"Today we will be teaching you about tournament fights to prepare you for the upcoming Vytal Festival," explained Prof. Goodwitch.

The class erupted into whispers at this news while Yang was too preoccupied with her thoughts to pay much attention. Goodwitch waited for the noise to quieten down before continuing.

"As such, you will be divided into pairs and face each other in a one on one duel. The loser is the first to get their aura levels in the red. Understood?"

Taking the lack of sound as an affirmative she announced, "the first pair to face off will be Yang Xiao Long and Ruby Rose."

* * *

**So I didn't really like this chapter that much compared to the others for some reason. I mostly wrote it to show that the rest of team RWBY aren't complete idiots that are easily fooled. As for the people who noticed I changed to order of events from the series on purpose the idea is the Chaos Theory is coming into play thanks to Red. Also what did you guys think about ****Yang's P.O.V. was it good and would you like to see more different characters perspective's or just stick with Red? As always forgive bad grammar and I hope you enjoyed it.**


	5. When Giants do Battle

**Ok so there was a bit of confusion about the last chapter. Yes I am aware that the class happens before Jaune's breakdown however due to Red beating up Cardin, Jaune's depression was accelerated so Pyrrha took him to the roof early, hence the messed up timeline. Well a new chapter to celibrate 1st episode of season 2. Awesome episode really brings food fights to a whole new level. Also thanks to Jacklyn Frost and christopherweeblingjr (try saying that 3 times fast) for the reviews it really helped.**

**I don't own RWBY if I did the food fight would've happened sooner.**

* * *

Red had been having a surprisingly good day all things considered. Grimm Studies was tolerable thanks to her over-active imagination. She honestly expected Port to begin sparkling, while talking about how this technique had been passed down his line for generations. History was interesting despite the fact that she had been dragged there by Yang. However it was strange the history lesson was one that should have happened before Jaune had his break down. As they walked into combat class and took their seats Red's face furrowed in confusion. Jaune had his breakdown early she knew that now but why, was she already having an effect on the time line and if so then what else will have changed?

"The first pair to face off will be Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long," concluded Goodwitch.

'What!' Red jumped up, 'no this isn't right, they should have already had their first tournament practice match.'

"Just so you all know, after what happened the first time all safety features have been doubled checked and deemed safe, you have nothing to worry about, we don't want a repeat of what happened to Miss Rose after all," she assured the students.

'So that's it' thought Red trudging up to the stage with Yang alongside. 'Well that explains why I woke up in the infirmary at least'. Turing both of them walked to opposite ends of the stage and the large T.V screen flicked on showing both their auras and a countdown. 'Okay think, Yang knows all of Ruby's moves so I can't just rely on instincts like with Cardin.' Frowning she unsheathed Crescent Rose in scythe mode her eyes never leaving Yang's as the blonde's smug smile dropped under Red's gaze. 'So let's use that against her' Red's face became expressionless as the countdown continued ticking.

* * *

Yang felt confident she could beat Ruby, they'd sparred before and knew each other's moves off by heart. However after taking one look at her Yang dropped her smugness instantly, Ruby was looking at her with a calculating look that she'd never seen before. She quickly got into her stance, her instincts warning her to use extreme caution in this fight. Locking gazes with her sister they both waited for the countdown to finish.

* * *

DING

Red was moving before the bell had even finished, speeding towards Yang, Crescent Rose following close behind. Eyes widening Yang rolled to the side using her momentum to sweep kick Red off her feet. Seeing this Red fired her scythe and flew into the air before kicking herself off the wall. Landing behind Yang she threw a sucker punch into her stomach causing Yang to wince in pain and spin around before releasing her own hay-maker. Only to meet rose petals as Red appeared above her, Crescent Rose in gun mode and fired a rapid burst into the stunned blonde. Yang crashed through the floor as the bullet ridden region of stage was no longer able to support her weight. Red landed on one of the undamaged areas, reloading and waiting for the dust to clear.

* * *

Yang groaned, she had clearly underestimated Ruby and was now paying for it. This hit and run tactic was a completely different style to Ruby's usual tactics. Still it had worked, she had been caught completely by surprise and her aura was already down by half. Frowning she stood up, her eyes now a vibrant red and her hair beginning to glow.

Jumping out of her hole Yang smashed Ember Celica into where Ruby had been moments ago creating a large shock wave. Remembering what happened last time Yang dove to the side narrowly avoiding another rapid burst from Crescent Rose. Spinning around she charged Ruby intending to get in close and gain the advantage. Ruby switched to scythe mode and attempted to back-pedal to gain more distance but Yang had cornered her between the wall and the damaged stage. The brawler began her assault landing punch after punch on Ruby as she tried to dodge the onslaught, her aura rapidly depleting. In desperation Ruby swung Crescent Rose like a baseball bat hitting Yang dead centre on the chest, causing her to become momentarily stunned. Ruby used this opening to immediately get some distance between them.

* * *

Red stood there watching Yang as they both tried to catch their breath, the class silent as they watched the battle between giants. At first the plan had been going well half of Yang's aura taken down in an instant but she forgot a very important thing, she wasn't the only one that could strategize. She'd underestimated the blonde and now had the bruises to show for it, as well as being one hit off getting in the red.

"Well sis, I can honestly say that this has been the best fight I've had in a long while," commented Yang, her hair getting brighter every second. "But I think it's time to end this," she finished slamming her gauntlets together.

Eyes widening Red sprinted forward realizing what was about to happen, only to be thrown back by a shock wave of heat and energy. Yang stood there her hair ablaze and flames surrounding her body as she calmly walked over to Red. Quickly standing up Red fired at her, only to see the rounds melt before even coming into contact with their targets. Red circled Yang empting all her clips, attempting to find a weak spot in the flame shield to no avail. Yang smiled and fired rounds of her own which Red blocked by twirling Crescent Rose in front of her. Seeing the brawler's brief look of surprise, Red advanced bringing Crescent Rose in for an overhead swing to finally finish the fight. The blonde's red eyes widen before the smirk returned and to everyone's surprise she caught the scythe mid swing. Using the scythe as leverage Yang pulled Red towards her, Ember Celica raised for the finishing blow.

"Nice trick sis, too bad you've used it before," taunted Yang.

Seeing no other option Red let go of the scythe and semblanced to the other end of the stage. The class began to murmur, seeing her with no weapon and one hit away from losing. 'Dammit if I can get around that fire shield I might have a chance, but all I have at my disposal is speed. Wait that's it!' Red turned to face Yang, 'let's see just how fast you are Ruby' she grinned. Activating her semblance she began to run in a circle around Yang, each rotation getting faster and faster. Slowly but surely a vortex began forming as more and more of Yang's flames began dying out. Red kept going faster as she saw Yang begin to sway, her eyes returning to their normal colour, her hands clutching her throat. Finally Yang Xiao Long, the Blonde Brawler of Beacon, fell down unconscious.

Seeing her opponent go down Red smiled before pain erupted in her head and she collapsed onto the stage right next to Yang. The class was completely silent trying to comprehend what they just saw. Clearing her throat Prof. Goodwitch turned to address them.

"Miss Belladonna, Miss Schnee, please take your teammates to the infirmary, the rest of you class is cancelled, dismissed."

As the last of the students left the room Glynda took out her scroll. "Headmaster, I think you'll want to see this."

* * *

**Well I must say this was my favourite chapter to write yet and also one of the hardest. I have a new respect for author's that write fight scenes they're difficult to do. So anyway hope you guys enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it, unfortunately assignments are starting to catch up so don't expect many updates for a while sorry.**


	6. Thnks fr th mmrs

**One assignment done one chapter to celebrate WAHOO! Also shout out to Jacob Rickshaw for thinking up an awesome name for this genre 'takeover fiction'. Here's hoping it becomes more common among fanficts. Ok so I feel I'll need to address this Red will not have seen any of volume two not even the production diaries simply because knowing all Cinder and Torchwick's plans would be no fun. **

**I don't own RWBY if I did Nora would have broken Cardin's legs.**

* * *

"_You're a Huntress…Can I have your autograph?"…_

"_You're Professor Ozpin, you're the head master of Beacon"…_

"_But why would I need friends when I have you?"…_

"_You don't even know me"…_

"_Is she right? Did you make a mistake?"… _

"_As a girl, I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books... Someone who fought for what was right, and protected people who couldn't protect themselves!"_

"_Well that's why we're here. To make it better"…_

Red slowly came to, her body feeling like it was made from lead. Grimacing she clutched her head in pain, her headache making itself known. 'That one was different from the rest, they didn't cause nearly as much pain.' Frowning at the thought of her condition getting worse she rose from the bed, trying to ignore the pain. Opening her eyes Red realized she was again in the infirmary, 'I really need to stop waking up in here.' Feeling something on her legs Red looked down and saw Yang, asleep at the end of the bed. Smiling Red gently shook Yang rousing the blonde from her slumber.

"Are you okay sis? I'm really sorry, I shouldn't have gone all out like that," Yang quickly apologized.

Red climbed out of the bed, turning to face Yang with a fake look of hurt on her face. "My dearest sister Yang, are you implying that I'm weak? I'm hurt that my own sister thinks so little of me," she finished with a fake sob.

Yang immediately began apologizing again, her face priceless. Unable to hold it in anymore Red burst into laughter.

"Oh ha ha Ruby very funny," grumbled Yang. "But seriously you okay? This is the second time you've woken up in the infirmary in 3 days," concern clear in her voice.

Red looked out the window at the moon, unable to look Yang in the eye. "Under the circumstances I think I'm doing rather well," replied Red, a sad smile across her face.

Before Yang could respond she was interrupted by the sound of the door opening. Both of them turned to see the rest of team RWBY and JNPR walk in. Nora ran up to Red, bellowing about how cool that fight was and what her favourite parts were, not even pausing to breathe. Red flinched, her headache acting up at the loud voice, literally meters from her.

"Nora I've got a bit of a headache, could you be a tad quieter please?" she begged.

Nora grinned sheepishly before darting back to Ren, who gave Red an apologetic look. Nodding to him Red turned to Yang.

"So how long was I out?" she asked.

Yang shrugged before turning to Blake, who was watching Red carefully.

"You've been out for two hours, Yang only woke up half an hour ago," explained the faunas.

"Yeah then Yang told us to get something to eat and that she'd call when you woke up," continued Nora.

Red looked at them in surprise. "Hold on, you guys were waiting for me?" she asked confused.

"Of course!" replied Jaune shocked, "you're our friend Ruby, it wouldn't be the same eating without you."

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement, even Weiss. Red's vision blurred as she threw her hood over her head, if anyone noticed her watering eyes, they were smart enough to not comment. 'Maybe I should just tell them, Yang deserves to know at least, she's my sister.' Red blinked where had that come from? Yang was Ruby's sister not hers'. Suddenly a voice came over the PA system, causing Red's headache to return with a vengeance.

"Ruby Rose you are wanted at the headmaster's office immediately," it announced.

Sighing Red thanked all her friends before telling them to go back to the dorms and get some rest. Closing the door behind her she walked off to Ozpin's office, 'I don't know whether to be proud or sad that I've memorized the way to his office already.'

* * *

"What do you think they're calling her into the office for?" asked Nora.

"Maybe to talk to her about the stage, you guys did do a lot of damage," answered Weiss.

Yang jumped up, "I better go too, might be able to get him to let Ruby off the hook. It was my fault after all."

Pyrrha grabbed Yang's shoulder, leading her away from the door. "Don't worry Yang if that was the case they would have called you up too, he probably just wants an update on her…condition," she finished pausing to look for the right word.

Yang deflated at this, in truth she'd forgotten about Ruby's 'amnesia'. Weiss and Blake nodded to each other, grabbing Yang they dragged her out of the infirmary.

"You guys go on ahead, we've got some catching up to do," informed Blake, ignoring the struggling blonde.

* * *

Red sat in the chair opposite from Ozpin, a steaming mug of coffee in her hand, both of them were silent as they drank their coffee. Honestly Red couldn't see why he'd like the stuff so much, still it was a free drink so she wasn't going to complain. Finally Ozpin put down his cup, a ghost of a smile on his face.

"Well Miss Rose you certainly don't do things halfway do you? Three visits to my office in as many days, I dare say this is a new record," he commented amused.

"Yeah sorry about that, we got really into the fight and kind of went overboard," she grinned sheepishly.

"Indeed," mused Ozpin, "but that is not why I called you here. Tell me how is your condition going, has anything returned?"

* * *

"What are we doing here?" she whispered to her team-mates.

"Quite you dolt! You'll get us caught," Weiss whispered back.

"You did want to find out more about what's going on with Ruby," answered Blake.

"Eavesdropping on the headmaster was not what I had in mind!" she shot back.

"Quiet! They've started talking," ordered Weiss.

All three of them pressed themselves up against the door, trying to catch the conversation between the room's two occupants. Yang heaved a sigh of relief in hearing Ruby wasn't in trouble, however her eyes widen and she pressed herself up further against the door upon hearing Ozpin's next question.

"… has anything returned?"

* * *

Red stared down at the cup in her hand, debating. 'Should I tell him? It wouldn't be a lie after all.' Taking a deep breath she looked up at Ozpin.

"Actually headmaster, I've had a couple of memory flashes," she admitted.

Ozpin's eyebrows raised as he placed his cup down, a serious expression present on his face. "Really? This is good it means we are making progress. If you don't mind could you explain these 'flashes'?"

Red nodded, "well I've had three so far, all of them while I was asleep," she explained. "The first two were specific memories, while the last was… different… more like emotions or drives than a specific memory itself."

"Interesting, do you have any idea what could have triggered these memories?" he asked, clearly taking mental notes.

Leaning back Red closed her eyes and began to ponder on the past three days, looking for a connection, to no avail. Sighing Red ran her hand through her hair in frustration before having a brain wave.

"Unfortunately headmaster I don't know what triggered the first and third," she said opening her eyes. "But I think I know what caused the second flash."

"Oh really, well then do tell," he ordered intrigued.

Taking a sip from her coffee Red began, "I was heading back to the dorms and I overheard the rest of my team arguing about… something, Yang got really depressed afterwards. When I went to sleep that night I had a dream about the time Ru- I made Ember Celia for her."

* * *

They all looked at each other with ashamed expressions. Ruby had heard they argument last night, it was a wonder she even talked to them after that. 'Wait that meant she heard what I said last night. I guess that's why she won't look at me.' Yang decided that she would apologize to Ruby after this, maybe take her out to Vale, let her get out of Beacon for a while.

"Guys I think we should go," she suggested to her teammates.

Unfortunately they were both too absorbed in their eavesdropping to hear. Sighing Yang again pressed herself up against the door, frowning.

* * *

If Ozpin noticed Red's slip up he didn't comment. "I see so your thoughts of Miss Xiao Long caused memories of her to surface. Could you please tell me what the first memory flash was?" He asked instead.

Red thought about it for a moment before shrugging, "Sure I guess, the first memory flash was of me visiting the grave of someone known as Summer Rose."

* * *

'Out of all the memories that had to return it had to be that one,' thought Yang clenching her fists.

"Who's Summer Rose?" asked Weiss.

Blake just shrugged, "family member probably."

Yang grabbed them, "alright this has gone on long enough, we're leaving," she growled.

Both of gulped, they hadn't seen Yang this angry since that time CRDL had sprayed her hair black. Yang glared at her teammates, daring them to argue, before pulling them from the door. Throwing them over her shoulders Yang walked back to dorms, ignoring the cries of her teammates, her head filled with plans.

* * *

Red was expecting the normal reaction from Ozpin at this news. Instead she was surprised to see his expression turn sombre. He stood up and walked up to Red before taking the empty cup from her hands, his eyes not meeting hers.

"How much do you remember about Summer?" he asked.

"Not much, just the visit itself," she answered.

"I see, well perhaps that's for the best. However if you ever need to talk to someone my door is always open," he offered, escorting her out.

As the door closed behind her Red walked to the dorms, thinking on the last discussion. Just what had happened to Summer that could cause Ozpin to act like that? Deciding to look into to it later she opened the door to team RWBY's dorm.

"What the hell?!"

* * *

**What happened to Summer? Will it be canon or something far worse? What did Red see in the dorms? And will we ever get back to the canon episodes? Find out in the next episode of Digimon Digital Monsters...wait... shit...**


	7. Iron Chef and a Funeral in Fall

**What's this another update already! Well don't get used to it guys I still have lots of assignments to do. But my muse decided to visit me in the night and I wanted to write it down so I wouldn't forget it. It was originally meant to be dot points but before I knew it it was 2am and I'd written an entire chapter. So yeah hope you guys like it.**

**I don't own Ruby if I did we would have seen backstory about Summer already.**

* * *

"What the hell?!"

Red's jaw dropped, the entire room looked like it had been hit with a nuke. There was a thick gooey substance covering everything from the walls to the beds, Fort Ruby had even collapsed on to Weiss's bed. Not to mention the burn marks along the floor and ceiling and what looked like fire extinguisher foam next to it. Noticing that there was smoke coming out of the dorm's kitchenette Red quickly opened the window before fearfully glancing in. The sight that greeted her wasn't much of a surprise, all the pots and pans were blackened or destroyed outright and smoke was escaping the closed oven. Quickly turning off the oven before it caught alight she looked around wondering what the hell had happened here.

Apparently the universe heard her because not ten seconds later the door opened and the rest of team RWBY walked in, covered with gunk and smelling of smoke. Upon noticing Red they smiled but then stopped in their tracks, seeing her seething with anger.

"Oh hey Ruby, you back already huh?" greeted Yang.

Red glared at her and Yang immediately shrunk under gaze. Red turned to look each one in the eye before facing palming with a sigh.

"One hour, I left you alone for one goddamn hour and look what happened!" she raged at them. "How the hell do you manage to destroy half the dorm and nearly burn down the other half in only one hour?!"

"It wasn't easy, we really had to it work at it," joked Yang.

They backed away as Red gave them a chilling smile and brought out Crescent Rose. As she vanished in a cloud of petals the rest of team RWBY heard the door close behind them. Turning they saw Red blocking their exit, her smile widening.

"You three have 30 seconds to explain how this happened or you all get to see just how much I remember about Crescent Rose," she threatened.

"Wait we can explain!" cried Yang.

* * *

30 minutes ago

"Yang what are we doing here?" asked Weiss.

"We're getting ready to apologise to Ruby," responded Yang.

"Okay we get that, but why did we take all these supplies from the cafeteria?" questioned Blake.

"Despite what you may think Ruby's favourite food isn't cookies, it's actually strawberries. So we're going to make her strawberry cupcakes as an apology," answered Yang.

"I didn't know you could cook," commented Weiss.

"Oh I can't Ruby did all the cooking, but then again how hard could it be?" challenged Yang.

Blake just sighed, realizing this would probably end badly.

20 minutes ago

"Ok so it says to put the mixture in bowl and use the beater to mix it," instructed Yang.

Weiss nodded and started up the beater, causing the mixture to spray in her face. Yelping in surprise Weiss dropped the bowl and beater, the mixture began to spray everywhere, coating the dorm in thick globes of the stuff.

15 minutes ago

"Ok so our first attempt didn't go so well," admitted Yang. "So this time we're doing it differently, because we lost the premade mixture we have to make our own," she continued. "Ok Blake, it says to add oil to the pan followed by flour and eggs."

"How much oil?" asked Blake.

"Hmm it doesn't say, we're running out of time so just put in half to speed it up," answered Yang.

Shrugging Blake added the oil, unfortunately as soon as the flour was added the pot burst into flames. Jumping in surprise Blake accidently threw the pot into the bedroom area, instantly the flames began spreading. Panicking Weiss threw a bucket of water on the flames, unfortunately creating a fireball of extreme proportions. This fireball reached the ropes hanging Fort Ruby from the ceiling, eating through them greedily. With a loud groan Fort Ruby came tumbling down crushing most of Weiss's bed on impact, the flames continuing to spread.

5 minutes ago

"Ok this is it we're finally done, all we need to do is put it in the oven to cook," sighed an exhausted Yang. "It says to leave it in there for an hour at 60 degrees, damn no time. Ok so we'll put it up to 180 degrees and come back in 20 minutes."

Cheering they got up and left to return the remaining supplies back to the cafeteria. Yang smiled, boy was Ruby in for a surprise when she got back.

* * *

Red blinked before giving an exasperated sigh and sheathing Crescent Rose. Motioning for them to follow her she led them to the burnt out kitchenette. Opening the oven door smoke began filling the room, coughing all three of them looked at the charred remains of their hard work in front of them. All of them had a combination of looks of disappointment, confusion and rage, lots and lots of rage. Yang finally snapped screaming bloody murder she picked up the 'food' and chucked it out the window.

"Alright due to this incident, as my power as team leader, I am banning all three of you from ever cooking anywhere without me or someone qualified observing you," Red announced failing to hide her amusement.

Strangely enough none of them seemed too upset by this decision. Her customary smirk returning Red issued their punishment, cleaning the dorms, much to the dismay of Weiss.

"Hold on, you said that you did this in half an hour, so what did you do in the first half?" Red asked confused.

All three shared looks before replying in unison, "nothing."

Red snorted, turning to walk to the door, "I know you're lying but quite frankly it's late and I'm tired, so I don't care."

"Hold on! Where are you going?" demanded Weiss.

"Team JNPR's room hopefully they won't mind me sleeping there tonight, after all I want to be alert for our excursion to Forever Falls," replied Red closing the door behind her.

* * *

Forever Fall really was beautiful, the show didn't do it justice. Red smiled taking a deep breath of the sweet scented air.

"You seem awfully chipper this morning something good happen?" asked Yang.

"Yeah it's the first time being out of Beacon remember? Plus look at this place it's beautiful," explained Red happily.

Glynda must have heard her, "yes students the forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful but we are not her to sight see. Prof. Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest and I'm her to make sure none of you die while doing so. Each of you is to gather one jar of red sap, however this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm so be sure to stay by your teammates. We will rendezvous back here at 4 o'clock, have fun."

Red and Yang turned to each other grinning and joined the rest of their team to collect the sap. As they began collecting the sap Red couldn't escape the feeling that's she's forgetting something important. Shrugging she put the thought to the back of her mind and focused on enjoying her brief time out of Beacon. After collecting their sap team RWBY headed over to help JNPR, Jaune was sitting out since he was apparently allergic to the stuff.

Upon seeing Jaune Red's eyes widened in understanding before smiling, 'he was supposed to be helping Cardin at this point.' Her smile didn't last long though since Jaune was the one responsible for stopping Cardin from pranking Pyrrha. Looking around she noticed that team CRDL was missing, 'this can't be good.'

"Hey guys, where's Cardin and his lackeys?" she asked.

Everyone turned to look at her before shrugging. 'Damn it that was not what I was hoping for.'

"They disappeared a while ago, shortly after you guys walked off. Don't worry though even they're not that stupid to wonder off alone," informed Jaune.

Red nodded and struck up a conversation with Jaune but couldn't shake a familiar feeling. The last time she felt like this was right before the parkour accident. Frowning she grabbed Jaune and made her way over to their teams, 'I'm not making the same mistake twice.'

"Guys I think we should go, I've got a really bad feeling about this place," she suggested.

The teams looked at each other, clearly surprised that the previously cheerful Ruby suddenly seemed so worried or even scared. Deciding that anything that has Ruby worried is something dangerous both teams packed up as fast as possible and headed for the clearing.

As they were walking to the clearing Red suddenly felt something hit her, looking down she froze. There dripping off her torso was a large amount of sap. Hearing laughter coming from nearby she turned to see Cardin staring at her as he opened a box. The cold feeling of dread returned as Red saw the swarm being unleashed.

"Rapier Wasps RUN!" yelled Red before dashing off into the forest.

The swarm followed her, completely ignoring her friends, the scent of the sap driving them into a frenzy. 'Ok think if they're like the wasps back home then all I need to do is find a river or lake to lose them,' she thought racing through the underbrush. As the chase went on Red became even more grateful for Ruby's semblance, as it was the only thing keeping her ahead of the swarm. Finally after what seemed like hours Red arrived in a clearing with a flowing river, seeing her chance she dove in and waited.

When it seemed that the wasps had given up, Red sighed in relief. However the sigh died in her throat as the current began to grow rough, dashing her against rocks as she struggled to stay afloat. Gasping Red tried to get out but her chase with the Rapier wasps had left her exhausted, both physically and mentally. It was all she could do to grab on to a nearby floating log before blacking out completely.

* * *

_**Happiness – Requiem from the blind alchemist - FMA Brotherhood OST**_

_There was silence in the room, no sounds of the birds chirping, people chatting or the wind blowing. Just silence. It suited Ruby just fine, gave her time for her thoughts as she waited. A man walked up to the pedestal to begin the ceremony, followed by dad and Uncle Qrow. Recognizing that as the signal Ruby began to play, her notes creating a haunting melody as people became completely still. As her song came to an end Ruby got up from the piano and walked over to the pedestal. Taking a deep breath to calm her emotions she began._

"_God saw you getting tired_

_and a cure was not to be_

_so he put his arms around you_

_and whispered, _'_Come to Me'_

_With tearful eyes we watched you_

_and saw you pass away_

_and although we love you dearly_

_we could not make you stay._

_A Golden heart stopped beating_

_hard working hands at rest._

_God broke our hearts to prove to us_

_He only takes the best."_

_Ruby choked, tears welling in her eyes. She felt someone grab her arm and give it a gentle squeeze. Looking to her side she saw her sister Yang giving her a supporting nod. Wiping the tears from her eyes Ruby continued._

"_It's lonesome here without you_

_We miss you so each day,_

_Our lives aren't the same_

_Since you went away._

_When days are sad and lonely,_

_And everything goes wrong,_

_We seem to hear you whisper,_

_'Cheer up and carry on.'_

_Each time we see your picture,_

_You seem to smile and say,_

_'Don't cry, I'm in God's keeping,_

_We'll meet again someday.'"_

_As everyone began leaving Ruby continued to stare at the coffin. Clenching her fists, her make up a complete ruin. It was her fault, if it wasn't for her none of this would have happened._

"_I'm so sorry mom," she whispered._

"_Ruby she wouldn't want you to act like this and she doesn't blame you, you know that," came a male voice from behind._

_Turning she saw her Uncle Qrow, with a sad expression on his face as he looked on at the coffin. Kneeling down he gave Ruby a hug as she cried onto his shoulder. Breaking free from the hug, Ruby wiped the tears away before looking up at Qrow._

"_Uncle Qrow, I want to become stronger. I don't want anyone else to feel like this, please will you teach me?" she begged._

_Qrow looked her in the eyes, "very well but on one condition, you have to start smiling again."_

* * *

Slowly opening her eyes Red wiped the remnants of tears from them, 'well that was… enlightening' she thought with a frown. Groaning she attempted to stand up before toppling over, her legs buckling under the weight. Sitting down she took note of her surroundings, definitely not somewhere seen in the show meaning she had no idea where she was. 'Maybe my scroll could tell me.' Bringing out her scroll threw that option away out the window. It was completely broken not even a single part of it didn't have a crack in it, 'great just perfect.' Laying down on the ground Red began debating her next move, when a very familiar sound came from behind her. Blood draining from her face Red turned to see an Ursa major emerging from the woods, looking directly at her.

"Oh shit…"

* * *

**Well what did you guys think? Also for those who are wondering I didn't think up that poem, it was from my Grandma's funeral a couple of years ago called Come With Me or God saw you getting tired (depending on who you talk to). I'm not really religious but that poem was nice so I decided to include it. As for the kitchen scene that was actually based off me, granted it didn't escalated to their proportions but I did nearly burn down the house, I couldn't resist putting it in.**


	8. If you go down to the woods today

**Hey guys good news found out the last assignment has been delayed so expect another chapter relatively soon. Anyway I enjoyed writing this one for some reason so enjoy.**

**I don't own RWBY if I did I would make and sell that Risk cross Yu Gi Oh board game.**

* * *

"What do you mean you can't find her?" screamed Yang.

"Exactly that Yang, we've looked everywhere," Blake calmly replied.

Shortly after the Rapier Wasps the teams had scattered in different directions and so far everyone had returned except for Ruby and that was over an hour ago. To say Yang was taking it well was to say that Grimm were friendly, a complete lie.

"Look I know you're worried about her, but we need to wait for Ren and Pyrrha to get back with Prof. Goodwitch. We have a better chance of finding her if we co-ordinate together," reasoned Weiss.

"More importantly where did those Rapier Wasps come from and why'd they only go after Ruby?" questioned Jaune.

Everyone stopped to look at him. He was right that was not normal behaviour for them, to attack all of them sure but to single out one person and to pursue them afterwards. 'Something else is going on here and when I find out what there will be hell to pay.' Hearing noises behind her Yang turned to see team CRDL laughing as they came out of the woods.

"And where the hell have you been?" she demanded.

"Where me and MY team have been is no concern of yours Blondie," responded Cardin.

Yang growled as her eyes flashed red before feeling Blake grab her shoulder and shake her head. Taking deep breaths Yang lowered her fists and slowly her eyes returned to their normal colour. Cardin snorted at this display and began looking around, a frown growing on his face.

"Hey where's the shrimp?" he asked.

"Missing, a swarm of Rapier Wasps attacked and we were separated. That was over an hour ago," informed Blake. "You wouldn't know anything about that would you?" asked Blake, narrowing her eyes.

Cardin and his team briefly hesitated before sharing a glance between them. Unfortunately this didn't go unnoticed by Yang. Running up to them she grabbed Cardin's manhood, making a show of deploying Ember Celica in front of him.

"You bastards! If I find that even one hair is missing from her head you going to be known as Ms. Winchester got it?" she screamed into his face.

"Miss Xiao Long put him down!" order Goodwitch.

As Ren and Pyrrha rejoined their teams Prof. Goodwitch turned to address everyone. "We will get to the bottom of what happened later for now our primary focus is finding Miss Rose, understood?"

Receiving nods from everyone she took out her scroll, "according to this the last known position of Miss Rose's scroll is south from here. We will split into teams to cover more ground I will go with team RWBY," she paused before turning to Yang.

"If we haven't found her by the time it gets dark we'll call off the search and begin again in the morning with a proper search party. Is that understood Miss Xiao Long?" demanded Goodwitch.

Yang wanted to argue but knew there was no point, so she just kept her mouth shut and nodded. 'Hold on Ruby we'll find you.'

* * *

"Umm… Nice Ursa, friendly Ursa… you wouldn't hurt an innocent little girl now would you?" joked Red as she struggled to get up.

Her legs screamed in protest at this and she winced. The Ursa sensing an easy meal began to approach her growling and Red began backing up in fear. 'This is not good I can't fight it in this condition,' she thought panicky. She kept backing up until her foot hit water, taking a quick glance behind her revealed a large lake and flowing waterfall. 'That must have been how I washed up here,' she realized. It would have been rather beautiful if not for the current situation. Turning her attention back to the Ursa she saw that it was much closer than before. Roaring the Ursa charged Red who barely managed to dive to the side in time, the claws creating large tears in her cloak.

Cursing Red began looking for an escape route, her eyes rested on the same log she'd used before. Only problem, there was an angry giant bear between her and it. 'I have to get the timing exactly right,' frowned Red. Yelling at the top of her lungs Red charged the Ursa, who stood up to give her a very strong bear hug. Red smirked using the mud to her advantage she slid between the Ursa's hind legs, grabbed the log and pushed herself off the shore. Laughing that her stupid plan had worked she turned to look at the shore and the laughter died in her throat. The Ursa had jumped in and was dog paddling after her. Red began swimming to the other shore as fast as her broken body would allow, praying to reach it before the Ursa reached her.

* * *

"Hey Cardin, do think Ruby's ok?" asked Dove.

"I don't know man I hope so, the prank wasn't meant to go this far only get back at her," admitted Cardin.

"Somehow I don't think the Blonde Brawler will think the same," commented Sky.

All of them shuddered at that thought. Snapping out of it Cardin looked around, this was the last known location that Ruby's scroll had reported before the signal was lost. It didn't feel Cardin with great hope that it was at the waterfall that gave this place its name or that a storm was brewing above them. Looking down on the lake below Cardin blinked, 'was that a flash of red or are my eyes playing tricks on me?'

"Hey Dove pass me the binoculars," he ordered said team-mate.

Looking through them Cardin's heart skipped several beat. There floating in the middle of the lake were large strips of a red material. 'Oh God, no no no! Please let me be wrong.'

Turning to his team he ordered, "We've got to get down there now! And one of you get ready to contact Prof. Goodwitch."

Sprinting as fast as they could team CRDL found themselves on the shore of the great lake. Spreading out they began their search, as the storm began to unleash a mighty downpour.

"Ruby! Where are you? We're so sorry, come on out everyone is worried!" called Cardin.

Hearing a sound coming from behind him he turned hoping to see Ruby. Instead the sight that greeted him was one of the biggest Ursas he'd ever seen, a strip of red cloth hanging out its mouth. Cardin felt a something wet run down his check and it wasn't from the rain.

* * *

**Someone pointed out that I do a lot of cliff hanger endings for chapters. Believe it or not they are usually unintentional, this is the first that isn't. Anyway hope you enjoyed A Rose by Any Other Name brought to you by Dro... What?... We're not done?... I see...**


	9. Conversations around the campfire

**You guys didn't think I'd keep you hanging like that did you? I'd already had this chapter written and it was meant to be part of the previous one, I just wanted to mess with Frost :P. Also I noticed my chapters on average seem to be getting longer, weird huh? Anyway I hope you enjoy the chapter, no more rapid updates after this though unfortunately.**

**I don't own RWBY if I did I would get Casey Williams to sing this.**

* * *

Red kept paddling, hearing the growling of the Ursa getting louder every minute. Just as she reached the shore she felt something yank on her back. Looking behind her she screamed, the Ursa had bit into her cloak and was pulling her back in. Using every last scrap of strength left Red activated her semblance, causing her cloak to tear in two and the Ursa to fall back into the water. Seeing her chance Red darted into the underbrush, the Ursa sniffed the air before disappearing into the opposite direction of Red. She sighed in relief and collapsed, 'a couple of minutes rest wouldn't hurt,' she thought her eyelids getting heavy. 'I'll just take a quick nap.'

* * *

Cardin saw the Ursa in front of him rear up, quickly blocking the swipe with his mace. He was thrown into the nearby tree by the force alone. One of his team-mates commented about that being 'a big Ursa', before all three turn tail and ran leaving Cardin to fend for himself. Strangely he found that he didn't care, maybe it was his punishment. The Ursa that killed Ruby also gets him, a certain poetic justice in a way. Meeting the Ursa in the eye he watched it prepare the finishing blow.

* * *

Red awoke to the sound of yelling, "… come out everyone's worried."

'Is that Cardin? That bastard! When I get my hands on him.' Her thoughts of revenge were interrupted by an all too familiar sound. Looking out from her cover she saw the same Ursa major from before attacking Cardin. Red smiled, the irony of the situation wasn't lost on her. Suddenly the rest of team CRDL ditched Cardin, she snorted 'the more things change the more they stay the same.' However this left Red with a dilemma, should she help? He was responsible for nearly getting her killed after all, plus in her weaken state she might not be able to beat the Grimm. 'Why should I risk my life for him,' thought Red getting up to move to a more sheltered hiding spot.

'_As a girl, I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books... Someone who fought for what was right, and protected people who couldn't protect themselves!'_

Red stopped in her tracks frowning, looking in a puddle showed an innocent looking Ruby staring back at her with questioning eyes. Sighing Red brought out Crescent Rose and ran back, "damn it Ruby, what have you done to me?" she muttered.

* * *

_Clang_

Cardin's eyes widen in surprise, there standing in front of him was none other than Ruby Rose. Using her scythe as a staff she'd blocked the blow meant for him, taking a step back she removed her scythe causing the Ursa to overcompensate and stumble in the wet mud. Both of them quickly got some distance from the Grimm. Noticing him staring she turned to face him.

"What up Cardin? You look like you've seen a ghost," joked Ruby.

He just stood there gawking, "You're alive?"

Ruby looked back at the Grimm suddenly serious, "not for much longer if we don't deal with him. Listen I need you to distract it and keep it busy, can you do that?" she asked.

Nodding Cardin picked up his mace, turning to face the Ursa. Both of them circled it in opposite directions forcing the Grimm to divide its attention between them. Ruby nodded at him giving the signal, bellowing a war cry he charged the Ursa swinging the mace in a two handed grip into its shin. Roaring in pain the Grimm turned its baleful red eyes onto him. Ducking under the incoming swipe Cardin slammed his mace into the same shin, causing it to shatter with a loud crack. Now hobbling the Ursa slipped in the mud and toppled over, seeing her chance Ruby leapt onto its back placing her scythe along its neck. Ruby fired her weapon using the whole clip in combination with her semblance to decapitate the Grimm. As she casually leapt off the corpse Cardin just stared slack jawed.

Looking over to him she smirked, "come on let's get out of this rain."

* * *

"Prof. Goodwitch this is Cardin of team CRDL I've found Ruby Rose of team RWBY. Professor? Hello? Does anyone read me?" Cardin shouted into his scroll.

Red frowned, "no luck?"

Cardin shook his head, "either this storm is causing interference or they're out of range. Either way it doesn't matter, soon it'll be dark and they'll have to return to Beacon."

Red sighed, looks like they were spending the night here. Here being an abandoned cave near the lake edge. Stretching Red got up and headed back to the cave entrance, causing Cardin to grab her shoulder.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked more curious than angry.

"If we're going to stay the night some firewood will be helpful don't you think?" responded Red.

Cardin nodded, "true I'll get it you stay here, I can tell you're exhausted so get some rest. I'd rather not have to face the wrath of your sister."

Red looked at him in surprise, this was not what she expected. Choosing to not look a gift horse in the mouth Red just sat down, muttering thanks as her eyelids once again grew heavy.

* * *

Red woke up to a sight she didn't expect to see, Cardin had not only got firewood he'd even started a proper fire. She was impressed maybe he wasn't just a jar-head jock. Walking over the two crowded around the fire in silence, broken only by the sound of the wind howling outside.

"Why?" asked Cardin.

Red looked up, "huh? Why what?"

Cardin didn't move, just kept staring at the fire. "Why did you save me? Even my own team abandoned me, so why?"

Red's eyes glazed over and she too began just staring at the crackling fire, almost hypnotized by its movements. Thinking back she gave a dark chuckle.

"I screwed someone over badly, they had hopes and dreams and I just took them from her. So I decided I would live out her dreams for her. You're a dick Cardin but I won't let you die for something stupid like that, she wouldn't let me."

Cardin just looked up, "for what it's worth, thanks Red."

Red froze, "what did you call me?" she asked shakily.

Cardin frowned, "umm… Red you know because of your cloak. Seems like a better nickname then shrimp. I can call you something else if you want?"

_He laughed, "awe well don't you look adorable, I think I'm gonna call you Little Red now."_

_Red just sighed knowing she'd have to put up with this the entire night. Still at least it would stop after tonight. There's no way he would keep it up after Halloween, would he? Somehow she didn't feel that confident about it._

Red shook the memory away, sighing in relief, "no it's ok it has… just been a long time since someone called me that, that's all."

Cardin nodded in understanding and the two began to descend into an awkward silence. Red's mind was elsewhere thinking about home, her old friends and the fun they used to have.

"_Remember Little Red, we might not see each other as often but we are still friends," he smiled._

"_Yeah but it won't be as much fun without you," she smiled sadly._

_She felt him give her a playful shove, "tell you what I'll teach you my favourite song, whenever you're feeling down just sing it. It really helps," his smile grew as he ruffled her hair._

Tears began pouring down Red's face as the memory faded, unable to take the silence any more she followed his advice.

_Of all the money that e'er I had_

_I spent it in good company_

_And all the harm I've ever done _

_Alas it was to none but me _

_And all I've done for want of wit _

_To mem'ry now I can't recall _

_So fill to me the parting glass_

_Good night and joy be to you all_

_Of all the comrades that e'er I had_

_They're sorry for my going away_

_And all the sweethearts that e'er I'd had_

_They'd wish me one more day to stay _

_But since it falls unto my lot_

_That I should rise and you should not _

_I gently rise and softly call_

_Good night and joy be with you all_

_A man may drink and not be drunk_

_A man may fight and not be slain_

_A man may court a pretty girl_

_And perhaps be welcomed back again_

_But since it has so ordered been_

_By a time to rise and a time to fall_

_Come fill to me the parting glass_

_Goodnight and joy be with you all_

_Come fill to me the parting glass_

_Goodnight and joy be with you all…_

Cardin sat in silence listening to the song, speaking up once it was over. "That was beautiful, where did you learn it?" he asked.

Red looked up to face him, "it was taught to me by an old friend back home, but he… moved away… left Vale. I doubt I'll ever see him again."

Cardin looked apologetic, "sorry, you two must have been close."

Red brightened, "yeah we've been friends ever since the first grade." She laughed, "Been inseparable ever since."

Red was surprised, this was definitely different from the Cardin seen in the show. He actually seemed like a nice guy, so why did he act like a bully? After taking a second to build up her resolve she decided to pop the question.

"Hey Cardin why do you abuse Faunus and act like such a dick? I mean talking to you here it's clear you weren't always like this," she asked.

Cardin flinched before looking at the fire, obviously having an inner conflict. Red waited patiently, they had plenty of time after all and she wanted Cardin to have his thoughts in order. Finally seemingly coming to a decision he began.

"How much do you know about the White Fang?" he asked.

Red frowned, "only that they were a protest group supporting Faunus rights that turned to terrorism when all their protests were ineffective," she answered.

Cardin nodded, "that's right, you see my family actually supported the old White Fang."

Red's jaw dropped, Cardin noticed the reaction and laughed. "I know hard to believe right," he said.

Red just nodded before asking, "I can understand not supporting the White Fang any more but why hate Faunus in general?"

Cardin's expression darkened considerably before taking a deep breath.

"It happened just after the White Fang leadership changed, people were overconfident and didn't understand the threat," he explained. "My mother decided to take my sister shopping for my birthday present, that day White Fang took everyone in the mall hostage."

Red felt bile rise in the back of her throat. "Let me guess, we don't negotiate with terrorists," she said depressed.

Cardin gave a dark chuckle, "got it in one."

Red thought back to the cafeteria incident, 'no wonder he snapped so quickly' she realized guiltily. Still he shouldn't take it out on innocent people, Faunus or human.

"Cardin I'm really sorry for what I said in the cafeteria, if I'd known I wouldn't of said it," she apologized. "But treating people, human or Faunus, like crap is not the answer and you know it," she continued. "All you're doing is proving the White Fang right, you're helping them. You really want to help the people who did this to you?"

Cardin reared as if slapped, "I can't help it, when I see one of those Faunus I see all the happy times with my mom and sister that they stole away," he admitted.

Giving him an encouraging smile Red began, "Look Cardin, the way I see it every life is a pile of good and bad things and while the good things don't always soften the bad things, the bad things don't necessarily spoil the good things or make them unimportant."

Red placed a hand on his shoulder, "remember the good times you had with them, but don't let the bad things taint their memories. If you can stop living in the past then maybe you'll be able to recreate those happy times with your friends now, after all it's called the present for a reason," Red finished.

Cardin looked down on the fire, a thoughtful expression on his face, Red gave him a friendly shove.

"Go get some rest and think about what I said, I'll take first watch," she said.

Nodding in thanks Cardin lay down and before long the sound of snoring filled the cave. Red headed towards the entrance to begin her shift. Looking at the puddles she saw what seemed to be Ruby smiling and giving her a thumbs up. Red blinked and it was gone, replaced with her own reflection. Shrugging it off to tiredness she began her shift.

* * *

**So what did you guys think? I decided that I didn't like that Cardin was instantly a bully in the show. Everyone becomes a bully for a reason, you don't wake up one day and say "I feel like making someone else's day crap." You have a reason either a complex one like Cardin's or as simple as wanting to fit in with 'cool kids.' So I gave Cardin motivation to be a dick. And that brings about the end of the Forever Falls arc, will the next one be cannon or something else? Who knows? Hope you enjoyed it.**

**P.S Whoever recognised both the song and the quote you have made my day.**


	10. Damn you Murphy!

**Hey guys Drow79 here, for those wondering the song was The Parting Glass (Walking Dead Version) and the quote was the from the 11th doctor Van Gogh. Congrats to everyone who guessed right, anyway without further delays enjoy chapter 10.**

**I don't own RWBY if I did Penny would be a robot... oh wait...**

* * *

If you were to ask most students how many times they've be to the headmaster's office most would say none, or one if they were unruly. Still even the most troublesome of students would be hard pressed to beat four times within a week. After being picked up by the search party early in the morning Red and Cardin were immediately taken to Ozpin's office for a debriefing.

"Ah Miss Rose, welcome back," greeted Ozpin.

"Thanks sir, good to be back," responded Red cheerfully.

Nodding he gestured for them to take a seat as he began pouring himself another cup of coffee. Red happily took her seat, followed by a very cautious Cardin. Ozpin walked over with two steaming cups, smiling as he handed one to Red.

"White and two sugars yes?" he asked, taking his seat.

Red nodded and they both began drinking in silence, with a very confused Cardin looking between them. Red looked over and just shrugged.

"This isn't my first time here," she explained.

Ozpin gave a soft chuckle, "indeed Miss Rose, I'm beginning to wonder if you're doing this intentionally. I must say I think these meetings have become a daily event for me."

Red smirked, "well what can I say, the free coffee just keeps calling me back," she joked.

Cardin just looked at them in bewilderment at the joking atmosphere between the two, while secretly pondering just how often Ruby came here. Placing his mug down Ozpin signalled that it was time to get serious.

"I want you both to tell me what happened in Forever Falls, I've already got the story from your teammates but I would like to hear it from your side," he said looking at Cardin.

Cardin gulped and sat straighter under the attention. Attempting to speak only caused him to become a stuttering wreck. Seeing this Red decided to intervene, giving Ozpin a brief version of the events. However she kept out the conversation with Cardin knowing it was private as well as the prank realizing the trouble he could get in.

"I see, very strange that these Rapier Wasps singled you out. That is not normal behaviour is it Mr. Winchester?" he asked once again turning to Cardin.

"Actually Headmaster that was my fault," lied Red.

Drawing shocked looks from both of them she continued, "While we were moving I accidently spilt some sap on me. Apparently the sap drives the wasps into a frenzy, I'll accept any punishment for putting my team in danger."

"Interesting, that conflicts with the confessions I got from the rest team CRDL," stated Ozpin with raised eyebrows. "Are you sure Miss Rose?" he asked staring at her.

"Positive sir," she replied meeting his gaze.

Ozpin just sighed before taking another sip from his coffee.

"Do you have anything to add Mr. Winchester?" he asked.

Snapping out of his shock induced daze, Cardin shook his head. Seeing this Ozpin dismissed them both with a wave of his hand. Once the door closed behind them Cardin turned to Red.

"Seriously, thanks Red," he said offering his fist.

"Anytime Cardin," she replied raising her own.

Smiling they gave each other a friendly fist bump and split up, heading back to their dorms. Red walked down the halls of Beacon hearing whispers follow her, 'apparently I just got some street cred' she thought giggling. Her good mood lasted until she reached her dorm, there were crashes and screaming sounding from inside as well as the smell of smoke. Red's face blanched, 'oh no they wouldn't, not after what happened last time.' Wrenching the door open she just sighed and face palmed 'apparently so.'

* * *

After stopping the dorm debacle team RWBY decided to head for the cafeteria for their food. Much to the delight of the unfortunate dorm cleaners.

"Come on Ruby, we said we were sorry besides we had Ren helping us this time," said Yang.

"Oh really, so where was he?" asked Red the disbelief clear in her voice.

"Well he said he had to duck out for a few minutes," answered Yang with a sheepish grin.

Red looked at her with a deadpan expression, "you did all that damage in 'a few minutes?' why am I not surprised."

As they made their way to the cafeteria Red stumbled, clutching her head in pain.

"_Come on sis, just one more story," said Ruby._

"_No Ruby it's bed time, don't make me get mom up here," scolded Yang mockingly._

"_Please just one more then I'll go to bed I promise," begged Ruby with her puppy dog eyes._

_Yang just sighed, "fine which one?" she asked._

_Ruby jumped up from the bed and ran to the book shelf, grabbing her favourite she handed it to her big sister._

"_Tell me another story about the Shepard," she said settling in for the night._

_Yang chuckled, "it's getting late but okay, one more story."_

Red opened her eyes to see the rest of her team staring at her. All of them even Weiss looked concerned as they steadied her.

"Are you feeling okay?" asked Yang.

Red nodded, "yeah just a headache. Come on lets go I don't know about you guys but I'm hungry."

Yang grabbed her shoulder stopping Red in her tracks. "Ruby that was no mere head ache, promise me if it happens again you'll go to the infirmary. It could be something serious."

"Alright Yang I promise," she lied.

* * *

Arriving at the cafeteria the team saw JNPR was already present at the usual spot. Grabbing their food they moved to join them, upon seeing Red their expression brightened. Quickly making room for them on the table, Ren apologized for taking so long to get back to them but was waved off by Yang. Nora wasted no time grilling Red on what happened in Forever Falls and how it was to spend the night in the wild. Red smiled and began her tale, exaggerating it to the point where even Prof. Port would be put to shame, with everyone seemingly hooked. However she was interrupted by the sound of a fist slamming on the table coming from Blake. Red looked over to her and noticed that Blake was glaring at something over her shoulder. Turning around she saw team CRDL had entered the cafeteria seemingly searching for someone, upon seeing Velvet they made their way over.

"That's it I've had it with him," growled Blake standing up.

As Blake began to walk over to him Red frowned. Standing up she put her arm in front of Blake blocking her off, earning her shocked expressions from everyone.

"Wait, let's see where this goes first," ordered Red.

At first it looked like Blake was going to disobey but she just glared at Red before sitting back down. Everyone was silent as they stared at Red unable to believe what they just heard, shaking their heads with various states of disappointment they turned to watch the scene unravelling before them. At first it seemed like usual with Velvet cowering before CRDL, however when none of them begin teasing her everyone got confused. Instead they just stared at her without speaking, the room grew quiet as people began to look at the scene with growing interest. Taking a deep breath Cardin stepped forward and, to the surprise of everyone but Red, he along with his team bowed before her.

"Velvet, I am truly sorry for how me and my team treated you before. I know we don't deserve it but I hope someday you can forgive us," he apologized, before he and his team left the cafeteria.

Red chuckled as team JNPR's and the rest of RWBY's eyes bulged. All of them had expressions of disbelief but none more so then Blake, who turned to Red.

"That was an unexpected turn of events, you wouldn't have anything to do with it would you Ruby?" she asked.

Everyone at the table turned to Red at this comment. She just smirked knowingly and began to eat her food in silence. 'Good work Cardin and good luck.'

* * *

"The Vytal festival, oh this is absolutely wonderful," cheered Weiss.

"I don't think I've ever seen you smile this much Weiss, it's kind of weirding me out," teased Red.

"How could you not smile," exclaimed Weiss turning to Red in shock.

"A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world, there will be dances, parades, a tournament," she said giving a little twirl. "Oh the amount of planning and organization that goes into this event is simply breathtaking," finished Weiss.

Red just shook her head in amusement and began tuning out the rest of the conversation. Looking around she smiled, this was her first time in Vale and it was a lot busier a city then shown in the show. Every store had some form of banner or decoration to celebrate the festival and most were going all out. It reminded Red of when her family would drive around home, admiring the different Christmas decorations on people's houses. 'I guess some things are universal,' she thought with a chuckle. Realizing that it was too quiet she turned her attention back to her team-mates, only to see all three of them staring at her in various states of confusion.

"Umm… is there something on my face?" she asked confused.

"No it's just that we've been trying to get your attention for the past five minutes," informed a smiling Blake.

"Right sorry about that my mind was just taking everything in, first time in Vale you know?" she commented.

They all frowned and nodded, the carefree atmosphere having been destroyed by that reminder. Blake and Yang didn't look that convinced however Weiss was too engaged with 'observing' the competition from Vacuo to notice. Leading them to the docks they came across a store surrounded by police tape. Red frowned and continued walking attempting to get her team to follow hoping they wouldn't see it, unfortunately Yang also noticed the store.

"Hey what happened here," she questioned walking up to a cop.

Red shook her head, "nothing can ever go according to plan," she mumbled, receiving a curious look from Blake.

The cop looked over at them, "robbery second dust shop to be hit this week, this place is turning to a jungle."

Weiss scoffed, "looks like the White Fang is at it again, what an awful bunch of degenerates."

'Uh oh this isn't good.' Red turned to Blake and sure enough the Faunus was giving the heiress a glare cold enough to freeze hell over.

"What's your problem?" she demanded.

"My problem? I just don't care for the criminally insane," responded Weiss.

Realizing she had to end this now Red spoke up, "I wouldn't call them insane Weiss, after all the only reason they're like that now is because the peaceful protests were doing nothing. If anyone is to blame it would be us."

Receiving an angry look from Weiss and a grateful nod from Blake she continued, "Anyway it's not like every Faunus is a criminal."

Just as she finished they heard shouting from across the docks, Red groaned knowing just who it was. As they ran to the source sure enough there was Sun hanging from a lamp post throwing bananas at the cops from before. Weiss turned to Red with a smug grin on her face.

"You were saying," she gloated.

'Damn you Murphy's Law,' however before she could respond to the heiress, Sun dropped off the lamp and sprinted for past them disappearing into the alleyway.

"Well Weiss you wanted to see the competition and there it goes," joked Yang.

"Quick we have to observe him," yelled Weiss before they all ran after Sun.

After a good solid 20 minutes of not finding that damn monkey Faunus, team RWBY sat on one of the park benches exhausted. Despite it all Red was having fun, right up until Yang began looking at her funny.

"You know Ruby it's strange, not many people know that the White Fang was originally a protest group plus how did you know Faunus had night vision when we only learnt it before your 'accident?'" asked Yang frowning.

At this point both Blake and Weiss turned to look at Red equally curious about this. 'Oh crap not good, do they suspect something? I need a distraction! God damn it Murphy!' Red gave a nervous laugh before spinning around and hitting something as hard as metal. Groaning Red accepted Yang's help up and turned to see what she hit, smiling when she recognized the ginger in front of her.

"Salutations," greeted Penny.

'There is a God,' thought Red gleefully. This was just what she needed, a perfect person to distract them.

"Salutations," she replied with a happy grin.

Her team looked between the two of them completely confused, especially since Penny had yet to get off the ground.

"Are you… okay?" asked Yang hesitantly.

"I'm wonderful thank you for asking," replied Penny.

"Do you… want to get up?" asked Yang again.

Penny seemed to consider it before responding, "Yes."

Leaping up from the ground she turned to face team RWBY, everyone but Red taking a couple of steps back.

"My name is Penny it's a pleasure to meet you," she said jerkily.

"A pleasure to meet you Penny, the white one is Weiss, black one Blake and yellow one is Yang. And my name is … Ruby," introduced Red flinching slightly on the last one.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," repeated Penny.

"Umm… you already said that," stated Weiss.

Seeing everyone's attention focused on Penny, Red began to sneak away before they started questioning her again. Walking down the streets of Vale was interesting, so much like home yet so different at the same time. Red came to a stop in front of a store she recognized, the Dust til Dawn. Entering the shop she immediately walked over to the magazine rack, intending to pull out one on books, games, movies, anything that might be interesting. Instead she herself drawn to 'Weapon Makers the finest of them all,' even more surprising was that she could actually understand everything and was even actively rating the weapons themselves. After a good solid hour of none stop reading and rating Red felt her scroll vibrate. Looking down she saw it was a message from Yang, '_Get back to dorm ASAP EMERGENCY._' Red cursed she had forgotten all about Blake, racing back to Beacon she began to panic wondering what to do next.

* * *

**There you go hope you liked it. I decided that I wanted to tie up the Cardin arc this chapter, I don't really like leaving loose ends. Also Ren is damn near impossible to write for I tried multiple times but eventually just gave up. Looking back through the chapters I realized this was a recurring theme, I have yet to give him any dialogue whatsoever. Anyway sorry if this chapter isn't that good but this episode was my least favourite and I struggled to get through it. **


	11. Showdown at the Shipyards

**Okay guys hope you enjoy the volume 1 finale of A Rose By Any Other Name. Unfortunately I'm going to have to take a little break from writing in order to finalise my ideas, after all there's an entire semester break between Volume 1 and 2, lots of time for non canon stories. Also am going to go back and edit the previous chapters, you won't need to reread them or anything they will just be grammar editing. You guys have been kind but I know all of them need it, even this one probably does. Anyway without further ado enjoy chapter 11.**

**I don't own RWBY if I did Faunus and humans would have switched roles.**

* * *

Red ran the through the streets of Vale as fast as her semblance could carry her, the buildings beginning blur. 'Ok I can still salvage this, the only ways off Beacon are by airship or through Emerald Forest. She wouldn't have gone through the forest which means I might still catch her at the airship terminal if I hurry.' Arriving at the terminal, after nearly collapsing from exhaustion, Red scanned the crowd and sure enough there was Blake walking with Sun her bow back on her head. Talking a deep breath she walked over to them, 'acting skills don't fail me now.'

"Blake! What are you doing out at this time?" she called.

Both Faunus jumped and turned to see Red waving as she walked over. Sun looked ready to bolt but Blake grabbed his arm, giving him a stern look.

"I could ask you the same question Ruby," she responded coldly.

"Well I kind of got side tracked by a weapons store while exploring Vale," said Red giving her best innocent expression.

"I see well if you'll excuse us," said Blake dragging Sun along with her.

Red sighed, 'looks like I've got no choice then. This will either get them talking or sprinting as far away as possible.' Running up to Blake she grabbed the bow off her head and jumped back. Blake looked at her with a shocked expression that quickly dissolved into one of anger.

"Give me the bow Ruby," she growled.

Red shook her head, "not until you explain what's going on."

Blake's expression turned sombre, "you wouldn't understand."

Red gave her a stern look, "you want to prove that the White Fang aren't behind the recent string of dust robberies, judging by the fact that you're a Faunus who got into Beacon without going to training school I can assume that you're a former member as well. So how'd I do?" she said her expression unchanged.

Both of them looked at her in shock, neither saying a word. Blake began to slowly reach for Gambol Shroud on her back, while Sun was reaching for Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang. Red looked at both of them and sighed.

"Blake what do you hope to accomplish with this, say you're right and the White Fang aren't to blame what do you have to show for it? A team… no friends who you've now alienated because you couldn't trust them," she said sadly.

Red expected Blake to give up at this point or at least listen to reason, instead she got a slap across the face for her troubles. She looked at Blake and immediately backed away, the look she was giving could only be described as murderous rage.

"How dare you! You fucking hypocrite!" screamed Blake. "You're the one who's been alienating us, hiding things from us with this 'amnesia' nonsense, did you really think we wouldn't notice huh?"

Red was stunned at this outburst, they had noticed, probably since the first discussion they'd had back in the dorms. Seeing Red completely preoccupied with this revelation Blake quickly grabbed her bow and ran down the streets Sun following close behind. Red saw them leave but couldn't find it in her to chase them, Blake's words had hit closer to home then she may have liked. Realizing this was a failure she headed back to Beacon already pondering whether or not to tell the others about this encounter.

* * *

Team RWBY was falling apart and Yang knew it. Just when things were beginning to return to normal, Ruby had been opening up again, Weiss had become tolerable, Blake was actually socializing with them and the general atmosphere of enjoyment had returned to the two teams. Then it started going wrong fast, first Blake and Weiss had got into a fight resulting in finding out that Blake was a Faunus and a former member of the White Fang at that. Then said Faunus had run off and had yet to return, meanwhile Weiss was ready to report her to the cops. Then Ruby had finally returned but she hadn't said anything and just cried herself to sleep that night. That hit both Weiss and Yang most, seeing the cheerful smile and mischievous smirk they had grown accustom to over the past few days wiped clean from her face. Nothing they tried could get Ruby out of her depression, even a plate of freshly baked cookies got no reaction. Eventually giving up they decided to head out to find Blake whom still hadn't returned for two days, but not before asking Jaune to keep an eye on Ruby.

"Blake! Blake! Where are you?" called Yang.

Weiss just walked along side not even bothering to call. Yang turned to her glaring.

"Weiss you're not helping," she scolded.

"Oh you know who might be able to help? The police," snipped Weiss.

"Weiss," growled Yang with crossed arms.

"It was just an idea," said Weiss.

Yang just sighed, "Weiss I think we should hear her side of the story before we jump to any conclusions."

"I think when we hear it you'll realize I was right," responded Weiss.

"And I think Weiss' hair looks wonderful today" came a familiar voice from behind them.

Both of them jumped, there standing behind them was Penny. Weiss and Yang shared a glance, each daring the other to go first, sighing Yang gave in first.

"Hey Penny," she greeted halfheartedly.

"Hey guys, what are you up to?" asked Penny.

"We're looking for our friend Blake," answered Yang.

"Oh you mean the Faunus girl, shame she was a member of the White Fang, she seemed so nice," mused Penny.

Yang and Weiss looked at each other in surprise, "wait how did you know she was in the White Fang?" asked Weiss.

"Oh I overheard the conversation between Ruby and Blake two nights ago," she answered.

"Wait Blake told Ruby she was in the White Fang?" asked Yang.

'That would explain why she's so depressed, what did Blake say to her? Damn it once we find her I'll give her the beating of a lifetime,' thought Yang clenching her fist.

"Oh no, Ruby already knew, in fact I think Blake was in shock about how much she knew," explain Penny.

That caught their attention, it was possible that Ruby had guessed her Faunus heritage but there was no way she could have known about the White Fang. 'Ruby this is getting out of hand, how many more secrets are you hiding from us,' thought Yang angrily. Grabbing Weiss she began running back to Beacon dragging the heiress along as if she weighed nothing.

"Thanks for the help Penny but we have to go, I've got some questions for my little sister."

* * *

Red knew she had to get out, the fresh air would do her some good. Sneaking past a sleeping Jaune she made her way onto the roof. As she was looking up at the sky Red sighed hearing footsteps approaching her.

"Guys for the last time I just want to be left alone," she snapped.

"I see that is a shame, in my experience it is better to have someone to talk to at times like this," came a familiar voice.

Red quickly stood up, "headmaster Ozpin, I'm sorry sir I didn't know it was you," she apologized.

Ozpin waved it off, "it's quite alright Miss Rose, now tell me what's wrong," he ordered.

Red was silent as she sat back down, gathered her thoughts. "Do you ever wonder why we're here? I mean was it chance that you became what you are or was it all part of some greater plan? And if so what if someone deviated from that plan?" asked a depressed Red.

Ozpin turned to look at her, "I would think that person did so with the best intentions at heart," he replied.

Red began chuckling darkly, "best intentions huh? Well the road to hell is paved with good intentions," she scoffed.

Ozpin sat down beside her, "Ruby I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong, please let me," he said.

Upon hearing this Red deflated, "I… I messed up, I thought I was helping someone but I only ended up making it worse. I've always had a plan but now… I just don't know what to do," she confessed.

Ozpin got up from the ground and looked out over Beacon, "the heart is a strange thing, so strong and yet so fragile. Ruby I've made more mistakes then most people on Remnant and you know what I've found, you should listen to your heart it will rarely lead you astray."

"But what if I mess up again?" she asked.

Ozpin turned and offered her a hand, "what is worse to do something and regret it or to regret not doing it at all?" he replied.

Red looked at the offered hand and for the first time in two days a smile spread across her face. Accepting the help up she thanked Ozpin and walked back to the dorm bathroom, getting changed into her combat gear. Hearing angry voices coming from the dorm bedroom area she hesitated having last minute doubts. How would she explain what she knew and how will they react? Then she felt something behind her, turning she saw her own reflection in the mirror. Only it was smiling an innocent smile, not one of her mischievous smirks and her silver eyes were filled encouragement, suddenly a loud bang came from the door. Red jumped and walked over to it, taking one last look behind her showed only her normal reflection. Red frowned before taking deep breath and opening the door to a very pissed Yang.

"Ruby you've got some explaining to do," growled the blonde.

"Later Yang, I know where Blake is and she's in trouble," she said causing Yang and Weiss to look at her in surprise.

* * *

The remnants of team RWBY raced through the streets of Vale heading towards the docks. After Red had explained the area they were looking for Weiss had immediately spoke up giving them the exact location. They picked up speed after hearing an explosion and seeing smoke rising from the shipyards, all doubt removed from their minds.

Red frowned, "ok listen here's the plan, I'll distract Roman while you guys deal with his henchmen. They have Bullheads so you'll need to be careful, got it?" she asked seriously.

They both nodded in understanding, keeping their questions about how she knew Roman would be there to themselves, although Yang didn't look too pleased about the plan. Red wasn't surprised not even she knew how she was supposed to deal with Roman, with her team she might be able to beat him but by herself she would be hard pressed just trying to stay alive. The trio arrived just in time to see Roman aiming his cane at Sun.

"Hey," called Red unsheathing Crescent Rose.

Roman turned to look at them with a shit eating grin, "oh hello Red, isn't it past your bed time?"

She just growled at him before semblancing to his side with Crescent Rose coming in for an overhead sweep. Romans eyes widen and he quickly blocked the strike with his cane, causing the two weapons to lock together.

"Sun go. Now! Help the others," she ordered the monkey Faunus, her eyes never leaving Roman's.

Snapping out of his daze Sun nodded before joining the rest of team RWBY in dealing with the White Fang grunts. Seeing Roman's eyes following the Faunus she frowned, realizing they needed to fight without distractions to help him. Taking one hand off her scythe she grabbed his shirt and semblanced to the other end of the dock. To his credit Roman was only briefly disorientated before he took advantage of situation by delivering a swift punch to her face. Red let go of his shirt, stumbling from the force of the blow. Shaking it off she saw Roman aiming his cane at her, unable to dive to the side in time she fired her scythe into the ground. Flying through the air she landed on top of one of the many shipping containers scattered around the docks. Roman looked up at her clapping looking mildly amused.

"Well Red I'll give that a 9/10, unfortunately you didn't quite stick the landing," he said his voice laced with sarcasm.

Red said nothing instead she just glared at him with barely contained anger, causing his smug smile to drop slightly. Jumping down she charged the criminal feinting with Crescent Rose, smiling as he took the bait. Blocking the scythe with his cane Roman was unprepared for the knee to his stomach, coughing he backed away trying to regain his balance. Seeing an opening Red disappeared in a flash rose petals before unloading an entire clip into Roman from behind. He groaned and staggered as he turned to face Red, his face now wiped clean of any smugness for the first time. Slowly they began circling each other, neither breaking eye contact.

"Who are you? You're not the same girl I met before," asked Roman without a trace of his usual condescending tone.

Red smirked, "oh and what makes you say that?" she asked.

Roman frowned, "you look like her, sound like her, hell you even fight like her. However you're aura is slightly different, a small difference that anyone who wasn't looking for it wouldn't notice. But your strikes are what give you away the most," he said.

"My strikes, how so you said I fight just like her?" asked Red confused, before closing her mouth realizing what she just said.

Unfortunately it seemed that Roman had also realized this and smirked, "I mean your instincts, when I fought our friend there was no killing intent behind the blows. But with you I can feel it behind every strike, when you attack you go for the kill," explained the criminal.

Suddenly there came a loud explosion from behind them, briefly looking back showed three of the four Bullheads had exploded. Red was mildly confused before she saw the burnt out remains of a dust shipping container. The last Bullhead quickly flew over to the two of them, forcing Red to dive behind cover least she be hit with the machine gun. Roman quickly ran over and jumped in, turning to look at Red once more.

"Well Red this has been a very enlightening night, you've peaked my interest and I'm sure my employers will be interested as well," called Roman as the Bullhead took off.

Red just shook her head and collapsed from exhaustion.

* * *

_It was hot, Ruby could feel the heat from here, she knew she should feel something at this sight but instead there was only a numbness. Walking up it she placed her hands on the door, reliving the memories they'd shared here. Sighing she walked back to Yang and Uncle Qrow, both whom carried lit torches. _

"_Ruby are you sure you want to do this?" asked Yang._

_Ruby nodded before grabbing the torch off Qrow and throwing it into the house. Yang looked conflicted but with a nod from Qrow she too threw her torch in. The trio stood watching as the house began to go up in flames, Qrow was frowning and Yang was crying. Ruby just looked on with a blank expression as the house she'd spent her whole childhood in, the home of Summer Rose burnt to the ground._

Red opened her eyes to see the night sky above her. Sitting up she saw the docks were crawling with cops and her team-mates as well as Sun had gathered around a bunch of crates. Walking over Red caught the last of the conversation between Weiss and Blake.

"… next time something this big comes up you'll come to your team-mates and not some… someone else," lectured Weiss.

Blake looked around seeing her smiling team-mates, her eyes resting on Red as a very distinctive Ruby smile spread across her face. Blake wiped the tears from her face and nodded.

"Of course," she replied sincerely.

Red looked around feeling an innocent child-like joy welling up inside her. Looking up at the star lit night she felt, for the first time like she was home.

"Yeah! Team RWBY is back together!" she cheered.

Red's eyes widened and she quickly cupped her hands over her mouth, causing everyone to burst out laughing. 'Where did that come from?' she thought confused. In her confusion however she failed to notice a certain blonde was not joining in the laughter and instead looking at her with suspicion.

* * *

**Sneak peak of the next chapter: Synchronized Souls**

Red didn't think, if she had then she might have come up with a way to talk her way out of this. Instead she followed her instincts that had saved humans for many years and ran. Red began sweating feeling the heat rising behind her as her pursuer closed the distance between them.

"Get back here you imposter!" screamed her pursuer.

* * *

**Annnnddddd CUT! Alright that's a wrap folks! Finally get to write for Roman! I love his lines in the show, unfortunately I didn't really get a chance to do many in this chapter. Anyway since it might be awhile until I update again I wanted to give you guys a sneak peak at the next chapter, yes I am that mean. Hope you guys liked this chapter and thanks to everyone who has supported the story you guys are great.**


	12. Synchronized Souls

**Yang: Guess who's back!**

**Hey guys so I just watched the newest episode and I've now got a new favourite. As for Yang's abilities well from the way Ruby explained it that shouldn't be a problem, I can work with it and who is this Neo character? My interest has been peaked RT. Also don't expect every chapter to be this long I'm aiming for 2000-3000 words usually but when you have no internet for two days you find other things to fight off boredom. **

**I don't own RWBY, I've got no complaints this week... good job RT.**

* * *

Red glared at her opponents trying to figure out her next move, wondering who the biggest threat was. She frowned, this was the last round and her hand wasn't the best, each of them had been very quiet and had been keeping their own cards close to their chest. Still she had a good feeling about her next move, smiling she pushed all her chips onto the table.

"I'm going all in," she announced, much to their surprise.

"Ruby are you sure that's wise?" asked Ren confused.

"Yeah Ruby, if you lose all your chips you're out of the game," informed Jaune.

"I knew we shouldn't have let you play," whined Weiss.

Red looked over at Weiss, keeping her poker face up. "Well then I guess you have nothing to worry about, do you Ice Queen?" she teased.

Weiss to her credit didn't take the bait and began looking at Red with her own poker face. After a brief stare down Weiss broke eye contact and placed her cards on the table.

"I fold," came her reply.

Both the males upon seeing the Schnee heiress folding, decided to follow suite and cut their losses. Red smiled, she had been getting these feelings for the entire game and each one had been right so far. However she had only just decided to test it now, earning her a large amount of chips and the ire of her white haired team-mate.

"Wait! Ruby what was your hand?" asked Weiss interested.

Giving a knowing smirk Red lay her cards on the table, much to the shock of her friends. Her hand held a pair of tens and nothing else helpful. All of them turned to Red in disbelief, Weiss in particular looked like she was ready to strangle her. 'Hmm she must have had a good hand,' she thought amused.

"Umm Ruby…" began Jaune, "you do know what one pair of tens is worth right?"

"Yeap," replied Red popping the _p_ sound.

"I also know what a bluff is, isn't that right Weiss?" she asked smirking at the seething heiress.

Ren frowned, "that was a very risky bluff, if even one of us hadn't folded you would have been out of the game," he commented.

"Yeah but I knew if I could convince Weiss, who is the most experienced at the game, to fold you two would as well," replied Red.

The three of them paused as Red began shuffling the deck, looking up she noticed they were looking at her with impressed expressions, even Weiss had a grudging respect in her eyes. Dealing out the cards they got ready for round two, she smiled as the feelings returned and by the end of the game all three of them had lost all their chips to Red.

"So anyone up for another game?" asked an amused Red.

* * *

Yang and Blake were walking down the halls of Beacon, to any casual observer it would look like the usual. However to any that took their time they would think it strange that the blonde brawler wasn't with her sister. The two were rarely seen apart from each other and even rarer after Ruby's accident during the duel between Jaune and Cardin. They would also notice that Blake was more being dragged by her partner rather than walking and judging from her expression was not very happy about it. Arriving at their dorm Yang shut the door and let go of Blake who immediately began rubbing her wrists and took a seat on her bed.

"Where's Ruby?" questioned Yang.

Blake glared at her, "she's off playing poker with Weiss," she answered.

"Good then she won't interrupt us. Blake what did you and Ruby talk about the night you ran away?" asked Yang, turning to look Blake in the eye.

The Faunus' eyes widen and a frown grew on her face, "sorry Yang I'm afraid that's private."

Yang glared at Blake, her eyes flashing red for an instant. "Blake I'll cut to the chase here, is it true that she already knew about you being a Faunus and the White Fang?"

Blake meet her furious gaze with an ice cold one of her own. "I don't know what you're talking about," lied Blake.

Yang dropped her glare with a sigh. "Did we ever tell you how we knew where to find you that night on the docks?" she asked.

Surprised by the change in topics Blake just shook her head, seeing this Yang began.

"Weiss and I were looking for you when we came across our old friend Penny. You can bet we were surprised when she not only knew you were a Faunus but also a former member of the White Fang. When we asked about it she said that she overheard your conversation with Ruby that night," she said giving Blake an accusing look.

For her part the Faunus didn't react and instead asked, "You'd trust Penny over your own sister?"

"Normally no," replied Yang. "But when we arrived back to question Ruby she said that she knows where you are, not only that but she knew that Roman would be there as well as the White Fang. In fact she knew exactly what we'd be facing including those Bullheads," informed Yang.

Blake looked shocked at this latest bit of information, "but there's no way Ruby could have known that."

"Exactly there is no way 'Ruby' could have known that, so that begs the question: who have we been spending the past week with?" asked Yang.

Blake looked up at Yang ready to tell her off for saying such a stupid joke, but stopped seeing the blonde's serious expression.

"You serious?" she asked in disbelief.

Yang's expression softened and she sat down on Weiss's bed deep in thought. "Remember what I said during our discussion?" she asked.

"_Well if you think so Yang I'll believe it, after all she is your sister," replied a shocked Weiss._

"_Is she?" questioned a depressed Yang, "honestly sometimes it feels like I'm talking to a stranger wearing my sister's skin."_

Blake frowned at the memory, "Yang don't you think you're overreacting just a bit? After all losing your memories could change a person."

"Don't give me that amnesia crap! We both know that it's a load of B.S.," raged Yang.

"So how do you explain those memory flashes she mentioned?" asked Blake with raised eyebrows.

For the first time in the conversation Yang looked stumped, she hadn't thought of that and all the memories were real she could verify that herself. Seeing her partner begin to calm down Blake decided to offer a compromise.

"Look if you feel that strongly about this then we'll go to the headmaster about this tomorrow okay? Until then promise that you won't confront Ruby about this, got it?" offered Blake.

Yang didn't respond and instead just got up and left the room without a word, clearly deep in thought. Blake sighed praying that Yang be careful, this was a delicate situation and team RWBY had only just started getting back together again. If this wasn't done right it could destroy team RWBY completely, Blake could only hope Yang knew that.

* * *

Red smiled as she walked down the halls of Beacon, a spring in her step. After winning her 6th poker game in a row they had decided to call it quits for the day. The result, she now had enough cafeteria coupons to buy a lifetime of cookies and she intended to cash in. As they walked back to their dorms the group ran into Yang who seemed very distant. Sharing a glance between them Red walked up to the blonde and grabbed her on the shoulder.

"Hey sis, you okay?" she asked concerned.

At the sound of her voice Yang immediately snapped out of her stupor. Yang looked at her with one of her rare serious expressions.

"Ruby can we talk? It's important," asked Yang looking her in the eyes.

'She rarely calls Ruby by her name, this must be serious,' realized Red. Nodding she turned to face the rest of the poker group.

"You guys go on ahead, Yang and I will catch up when we're done here," she said.

Jaune and Ren nodded and continued on their way to the dorms, Weiss looked conflicted and a little concerned but she to left. Upon seeing the others leave Yang grabbed Red's hand, causing her to flinch in pain from her grip and dragged her into a nearby classroom. Throughout it all a familiar bad feeling began to spread throughout her bones, placing her body on high alert. Red tried to ignore her heart's increased speed and had to constantly keep her hands from reaching for Crescent Rose.

_SLAM!_

Red jumped as Yang slammed the door shut, her heart threatening to burst from her chest. 'What's going on it's only Yang, why am I reacting like this?' she thought confused. Yang was just standing in front of the door observing her.

"You know 'Ruby' it's very interesting," commented Yang. "I found out that you already knew about Blake's past, then you already knew that Torchwick and his goons were at the docks, as well as exactly what they were using. Secondly you knew that Faunus have night vision, you have a far greater control of your semblance and finally your aura is different," she stated, her hair beginning to glow.

_CHACK CHACK_

Red stepped back as Yang loaded Ember Celica with red eyes and glowing hair.

"I'll be straight here, you're not Ruby. Who are you and what have you done with my sister?!" demanded Yang advancing.

Red didn't think, if she had then she might have come up with a way to talk her way out of this. Instead she followed the instincts that had saved humans for many years and just ran. Seeing Yang blocking the door Red dived out the window into the hallways before sprinting to get as far away from the blonde as possible. Red began sweating, feeling the heat rising behind her as the blonde closed the distance between them.

"Get back here you imposter!" screamed her pursuer.

Red unfortunately couldn't use her semblance in these enclosed hallways, if she hit the wall at that speed she'd be likely to break her neck aura or no aura. Yang knew it to, taking a quick glance behind her showed the said blonde using her gauntlets to rapidly close the distance between the two of them. Red was so focused on Yang she failed to notice what was in front of her and collided with something hard, causing them both to topple. Quickly getting up she saw that she was surrounded by team CRDL and had crashed into Cardin, hearing the brawler getting closer she didn't even apologized before continuing to flee for her life. Crashing through one of the doors, not even waiting to open it, Red realized she was as good as dead. The room was Prof. Port's classroom which had only one way in and one way out, turning back to the door Red's heart sank. There casually strolling into the rapidly warming room was a very pissed Yang, whom then gave a lightning quick right hook to the face before she could even grab Crescent Rose. Stunned Red could only watch as Yang grabbed her and brought here fist up, closing her eyes as she awaited the finishing blow.

"You know that's not very nice."

* * *

Cardin was having a good day all things considered, he and his team had just gotten back from a successful mission and we're heading to the cafeteria to celebrate. As they were joking with each other Cardin frowned hearing something approaching from behind them. Suddenly something collided with him knocking them both over and causing the wind to be knocked out of him. Angrily he looked down to see what hit him ready to give them a piece of his mind, only to stop seeing Ruby laying on top of him. However before he could say anything she looked behind her before taking off like a speeding bullet, her sister following close behind. Team CRDL looked at each other in confusion as Dove helped Cardin up.

"What was that? A prank gone wrong?" asked Sky.

The others shrugged assuming that was most likely the correct answer, only Cardin frowned. The expression on Yang's face wasn't one that could be caused by a simple prank. That was the expression of true rage and anger, he'd seen it before just after his sister died. Then there was Red's face when she saw Yang, it was fear. Not the childish fear of being caught for doing something wrong but a true fear, one that only showed when your life was honestly in danger.

His face hardening Cardin ran after them calling back to his team-mates, "you guys go celebrate without me I'll be there shortly."

As Cardin raced after the two huntresses he grew concerned, what could cause Yang Xiao Long of all people to want to hurt her little sister Ruby? Everyone knew that she was more protective of her younger sister then she was of her hair. Continuing after them he had just come through the broken door to see the blonde punch her sister in the face, with enough force to send her flying into the chairs. Cardin was completely shocked at this sight however he snapped out of it seeing Yang grab her sister by the throat, Ember Celica raised for the final blow. Eyes widening he quickly ran over and grabbed Yang's arm halting her blow.

"You know that's not very nice," he commented.

Before Yang could react he threw an aura infused punch of his own into the back of the brawler's head, sending her crashing into the wall. Cardin ran over to Ruby who was on the floor gasping for breath.

"Come on," he said hosting her up. "Knowing your sister that won't keep her down for long," grabbing Ruby they ran out of the room.

"Mind telling me why your sister wants your head," asked Cardin as they ran.

Ruby just shook her head, "I need to get out of Beacon, right now."

Cardin stumbled and looked at her in surprise, seeing her fearful expression he nodded.

"I know a way," he said.

* * *

Yang woke up to a massive headache, frowning she tried to piece together what'd just happened. 'I had that imposter cornered and beaten then I heard a familiar voice…' her eyes instantly turned red. 'Cardin! That bastard when I get my hands on him he can kiss his family lineage goodbye.' Yang knew she'd screwed up and now the imposter could be anywhere in the school plotting their escape. She sighed she was going to have to inform the rest of the team what had happened, they were not going to be happy.

Running back to the dorms she saw Blake and Weiss sitting on their beds, quickly informing them of what happened she received an extremely violent tongue lashing from Blake while Weiss seemed to just be in shock.

"Damn it Yang! This is why I said not to confront her about it," screamed Blake.

Blake looked ready to continue her verbal abuse but was interrupted by Weiss. "Look what's done is done, right now we should focus on catching her and that means going to the headmaster."

Receiving nods from her two team-mates they all ran to Ozpin's office hoping they were not too late.

* * *

There were few times that Ozpin could say he ever got angry, being the headmaster of Beacon meant he needed to keep a tight rein on his emotions. However there were times where he was sorely tempted to lash out and vent his frustration. As he listen to Yang's explanation of the events he began to rub his temples attempting to calm his rising temper.

"So let me get this straight Miss Xiao Long, you attacked your sister on the presumption that she wasn't your sister. Then preceded to damage numerous school property and to top it all off she is now running around the school trying to escape," he summarized.

Yang didn't flinch under his gaze and instead met it with one of her own, "with all due respect headmaster I know that wasn't my sister," replied Yang.

Ozpin just sighed and took out his scroll, "Glynda I need you to suspend travel to and from Beacon effective immediately, nothing comes in nothing goes out. Also turn on the GPS tracking in Miss Rose's scroll."

"Of course headmaster," came the reply from the scroll.

Ozpin turned to look at Yang, "Miss Xiao Long you have no idea what you have just set into motion, hopefully we can salvage this before it's too late."

* * *

"Cardin where are we going?" asked Red.

Cardin stopped walking and turned to look at her, "the only way off this academy is through the airships but they will be monitored so we can't use that method," he informed her.

Seeing her hopeless expression he smiled, "but I happen to know another way off this place that's not monitored, not very comfortable though."

Red looked up at him in surprise, "I don't care anything that gets me away from here is good enough for me," exclaimed Red.

Nodding Cardin led the two of them into the locker room. Red looked around confused before turning to Cardin who had opened his locker and was in the process of empting it out. Once he was finished he gestured for her to get in.

Seeing her confused expression he explained, "these lockers are rocket propelled Red, remember we learnt about them the first day after initiation."

A smile grew on Red's face, "Cardin you're a genius!"

He smiled before holding out his hand, "one more thing, give me your scroll they can track you with it and if you're serious about getting out of Beacon that will need to be fixed."

Red nodded and handed him her scroll, "alright the timer is set to go off ten minutes after the door closes that should give them enough time to focus on me and let you attract less attention," he instructed.

As Red got into the locker as turned to face him again, "seriously Cardin thanks, I owe you one," she said sincerely.

"No problem we're friends aren't we? Just be careful out there Little Red," he said smirking.

Closing the locker door Cardin walked out of the room, leaving an anxious Red to await her fate.

* * *

"Headmaster Miss Rose's signal is currently moving towards the RWBY dorms," informed Glynda.

Ozpin breathed a sigh of relief, they could still fix this before it got out of hand. He turned to the rest of team RWBY.

"You are to collect your team-mate and bring her here, tell her I wish to speak to her about Earth, she will know what I mean," he ordered them.

As they ran back towards their dorm Ozpin sighed, 'another crisis averted, thank God,' he thought relieved. Yet he couldn't escape the feeling that this wasn't over, that there was something he had overlooked.

Suddenly his scroll began to vibrate, looking down he saw it was from Weiss. Ignoring the growing feeling up unrest he answered it.

"Headmaster we have a problem, Ruby isn't here instead it's Cardin, he has Ruby's scroll," informed Weiss.

Ozpin froze, "Miss Schnee bring him to my office immediately and get Miss Xiao Long and Miss Belladonna to bring team JNPR as well. I think it's time for some answers," he instructed them.

"Yes headmaster," came the reply.

* * *

Red braced herself as she heard a rumbling coming from beneath her. Not five seconds later she was extremely grateful she did so as the locker suddenly shot skywards, with her screaming along the way. She was in the air screaming for what seemed years but in reality was probably only minutes until finally the locker crashed into the ground. The impact would most likely have knocked her out if not for her aura, groaning she opened the locker door and stepped outside and began kissing the ground. Looking around she noticed that she had landed just outside Vale, seeing no other option she began walking towards the city hoping to reach it before it got dark.

* * *

Ozpin's office was never meant to have many people present at the same time and it showed, with both the remainder of team RWBY as well as JNPR and Cardin present.

Ozpin glared at Cardin, "Mr. Winchester if you know the location of Miss Rose it is in both of your best interests to tell me."

Cardin just stood there seemingly unfazed by the level of hostility in the room coming from both Ozpin and Yang.

He shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know where she is, in fact I didn't even know she was missing," he replied.

Yang grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, "that's bullshit and you know it!" she screamed.

Cardin didn't even seemed phased as he just turned to look back at Ozpin. "Am I done here?" he asked bored.

Ozpin just sighed and dismissed him, much to Yang's anger. Once the door shut she rounded on the headmaster her hair glowing.

"He's obviously lying why did you let him go!" demanded Yang.

"Because Miss Xiao Long nothing we could have said would have gotten him to talk, for better or worse he is completely loyal to Miss Rose," replied Ozpin, much to everyone's shock.

This was Cardin after all who'd never done anything that wasn't for his own benefit and certainly wouldn't show this kind of commitment to protect someone. Everyone except Ozpin jumped at the sound of his scroll going off, sighing Ozpin answered it already suspecting the cause for the call.

"Headmaster I thought you'd like to know that one of the lockers was launched during the lockdown," informed Glynda.

"It was Mr. Winchester's wasn't it?" asked Ozpin, making everyone's eyes go wide.

"Yes sir," she replied.

Ozpin gave another sigh, this day was turning out to be one of the worst he'd had in a long time. "Were you able to track its descent?" he asked not very hopeful.

"Unfortunately not sir, we were too busy tracking Miss Rose's signal and maintaining the lockdown," answered Glynda.

"We can remove the lockdown Glynda, it's safe to assume that Miss Rose is no longer on school grounds," he ordered before hanging up. "Very clever Mr. Winchester, very clever," he muttered impressed.

Looking up he noticed the confused expressions on their faces, getting up he poured himself another cup of coffee.

"I suppose you all deserve answers about Ruby," began Ozpin as he sat back down.

Taking a sip of coffee he placed the mug down and leaned across his desk, "tell me have any of you heard of the Synchronized Souls theory?" he asked.

Six of them all shook their heads with confused expressions, only Pyrrha seemed to recognize the name.

"It's a theoretical theory to do with the specific wavelengths of an individual's aura," she said.

Ozpin nodded, "correct Miss Nikos, the theory itself is about the effects that could happen when two individuals with the same aura wavelengths meet. As we know aura is the manifestation of our souls so if two people meet that had the same aura their souls would have to be related in some way, we call these souls Synchronized."

"Now keep in mind this is all theory, as Synchronized Souls have never been proven to exist, until now," reminded Ozpin. "As I understand it, this occurred during Miss Rose's accident during the sparing session, her aura shouldn't have been strong enough to heal her injures and yet the very next day she was up and about as if nothing had ever happened."

"My theory is that both of the souls were in danger of dying at the same time and so each aura sought out the other, trying to consume it to save their hosts. It would seem that Miss Rose's was the more dominant of the two most likely due to her aura being unlocked while her compatriot's was not," explained Ozpin.

"As you are aware aura is not just the manifestation of our souls, they are our souls itself. So in a sense by consuming the aura it absorbed their very soul as well," he continued.

"But headmaster that's not possible, no two people on Remnant have the same aura," argued Pyrrha.

"Exactly, no two people on Remnant have the same aura however our friend is not from Remnant," he answered.

All of teams RWBY's and JNPR's jaws dropped open at this news. Ozpin got up from his chair and brought something up with his scroll before handing it to them.

"This is a comparison of Miss Rose's aura levels when she just joined Beacon and with her latest sparing session with Miss Xiao Long," he informed them.

Looking down at the scroll both teams were in shock, her aura levels had nearly doubled since the first measurement. There was silence between them as each tried and failed to come up with a logical conclusion for the sudden increase, coughing Ozpin broke the silence and took his scroll back from them.

"What I'm about to tell you is not to leave this room," he ordered.

Receiving nods of understanding from the students he reached into his desk and placed a blue green orb on the table.

"Throughout the history of Remnants there have been unique individuals whose aura was completely different from anything we knew before. Each of these individuals had an instinctive mastery of the aura and semblance that could rival any aura master we know today," informed Ozpin.

'So that's why she could use Ruby's semblance like that,' thought Yang with a frown, remembering their sparing session. Still none of them could have been prepared for the bombshell Ozpin was about to drop on them.

"What has been kept a secret, is that each of these individuals came from another world known only as the 'Earth'," he concluded, holding up the orb.

Yang walked up to the headmaster with glowing hair, "how long have you known?" she asked furious.

"Since you first brought her to my office, I'd recognize that Earth aura signature anywhere," he confessed.

"Hold on headmaster, didn't you just say they had the same aura, how could you tell the difference?" asked a confused Jaune.

Ozpin gave him an impressed smile before answering, "Think of every person's aura as a different language, in every language you can have different dialects depending on where you come from. This situation is much the same, it is Miss Rose's aura but it has two different accents, her normal Remnant one and hidden very carefully underneath that the Earth-like aura."

"What capabilities does this Earth aura give her?" asked Blake, already planning how to deal with this new threat.

Ozpin frowned, "we've never been able to do a direct study on Earth auras but from reports by both eyewitnesses and our own observations it is clear that their aura works on a fundamentally different level to ours."

He took a deep breath before continuing, "you see our aura quite literally shields us from harm by healing us, making us stronger and the creation of semblances. However earth aura instead revolves around recognizing and avoiding the danger entirely."

Noticing their confused expressions he elaborated, "their aura will manifest itself as feeling or instincts that tell her what the best course of action is. From what you told me of the Forever Fall incident this aura is now beginning to awaken within her."

"However we have never had someone that has both Remnant and Earth aura so we have no idea what to expect at this point," he finished.

"Surely there must be some of the descendants from these individuals alive today you could study?" asked Weiss.

"Unfortunately not Miss Schnee, the last surviving family, the Oum family, went missing a few years ago," answered the headmaster.

"We can only hope that no one else recognizes the significance of Miss Rose, these Earthlings have always brought change with them, for good or ill," muttered a depressed Ozpin.

* * *

"So hungry," moaned Red.

Luckily she'd made it into Vale before nightfall, unluckily she hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast. Something her groaning stomach wouldn't let her forget. A sweet smell began filling her nose, causing her stomach to rumble even louder. Following it showed a street bakery stall that was full of steaming pastries, causing Red's mouth to water. Walking up to the vendor she began trying to beg and bargain for just one free of charge.

"Please I'm really hungry," she begged.

The man growled pushing her to the ground, "get out of here you filthy street urchin!"

Red felt her temper flare, 'this greedy bastard can't even part with one.' She could just take them and run, he wouldn't catch her Ruby semblance would make sure of that. The question was should she? It was wrong to steal she knew that but she was so hungry. Sighing Red got up ready to walk away, her stomach groaned in protest, when the man made the decision for her.

"I thought I told you to scram!" he roared slapping her across the face.

"That's it!" screamed Red.

Kicking the vendor in the crotch she jumped over to the register and stole as many notes as she could fit in her pockets before grabbing some pastries and sprinting down the street. Red didn't stop running until she had left the cries of her victim far behind.

"You know it's not very nice to take things that aren't yours," commented an amused voice.

Red's hand immediately went to Crescent Rose as she turned around, "you're one to talk," she shot back.

"Guilty as charged," came the smug response.

"What do you want?" she growled beginning to unsheathe her scythe.

"Now now no need for that, I've just got a business proposition for you," he continued smiling.

* * *

**Welp that was a hell of a chapter to kick off the first non-canon arc, don't you think? Poor Ozpin he should have known nothing ever goes according to plan. Ok so I never really understood aura in the show, sometimes it seems like it is sentient, an example being Jaune's aura activating by itself and also Ruby's incomplete control over her Semblance. However Pyrrha explained it as if they were tools possibly controlled by their subconscious, so sorry to anyone that had a problem with it. Anyway hope you guys enjoyed it.  
**


	13. A 'Shocking' Turn of Events

**Hey Frost HAPPY BIRTHDAY! So I now have a two week holiday so I want to ask would you guys rather short chapters which would be released quicker like this one or would you rather long ones like the previous one but released a bit slower. PM or review what you want and I'll try to do it for the next two weeks. Personally I'd rather do the longer chapters for the holidays as I have more time but the choice is your's so let me know.**

**I don't own RWBY if I did the giant mech would be called Freckles.**

* * *

It was a quiet dinner at team RWBY and JNPR's table, even the normally bright energetic Nora was solemn and silent as they ate. It had been two days since 'Ruby' had gone missing and the only news they had on her whereabouts was an empty locker half buried in snow. The happy cheerful atmosphere they'd once shared had drifted away without her to act as an anchor.

"I hope Ruby's okay," said Jaune.

"Don't call her that! That imposter is not my sister," snapped Yang.

"So she just deserves to be killed by some Grimm in the wild or starve to death in the streets!" he shot back.

"Both of you quiet down, you're not helping!" shouted Blake standing up.

Both teams looked shocked at hearing the normally quiet and reserved Faunus raise her voice. Yang and Jaune both looked down on their food with guilty expressions.

"Does it really matter if she is or isn't Ruby?" asked Nora. "Do all the good times we shared as friends or the times she helped us over the past week mean nothing if she's not Ruby? If she's not Ruby then doesn't that mean she helped all of us without knowing who we are, and what do we do? Attack her and chase her out of Beacon."

Everyone turned to look at the ginger in surprise, they had never seen Nora this serious before, and to make it worse she was right. There was silence between them as the teams pondered on what she had said, Yang looked around unable to believe what she was hearing.

"She manipulated us, deceived us and you feel sorry for her!" she exclaimed.

"She also protected us from the Rapier Wasps, saved Cardin's life after he nearly got her killed and saved Sun's and Blake's too, all the while knowing it would come back to haunt her," interrupted Weiss.

"That doesn't sound like a bad kind of person," agreed Blake.

"That could all be part of her plan, are you forgetting she knew about Torchwick!" said Yang paranoid.

"And did you even ask her about that before you attacked her?" asked Jaune.

"The headmaster did say that Earth aura is not very well understood, only that it can predict the future to some degree, perhaps that had something to do with it?" reasoned Ren.

They descended back into silence as each of them thought about what he had said. Yang frowned, gripping her fork so hard that it gave a metallic shriek as it bent. 'I don't care what they think when I find her I'll beat that imposter to the ground, with or without their help,' she thought.

"Yang you alright, you look kind of… off," asked Pyrrha.

"I'm fine," she replied getting up from the table.

As she left the cafeteria Weiss and Blake shared a glance. While Blake got up to follow Yang back to the dorms Weiss turned to team JNPR.

"You saw her expression right?" she asked.

Getting nods from all of them she sighed, "Listen if you can, make sure Yang isn't alone at any time and for the love of God if you hear anything about Ruby tell me or Blake not Yang okay? We don't need her running off on her own personal witch hunt."

Seeing them all nod in understanding Weiss got up and followed her team-mates back to the dorms, leaving a very confused and concerned team JNPR to their dinner.

* * *

Red looked down from the roof top to the city streets below, she was supposed to scout the location and provide support when they moved in.

"Store is clear, he's directing the customers out so he can close up the shop," she said into her headset.

"Alright you know the plan get in position," ordered the voice on the other end.

"Got it, moving now," she replied.

Checking her pockets to make sure her equipment was ready she pulled her hood over her head and jumped down from the roof. She walked into the store and went over to the counter, only to be greeted by the owner.

"I'm sorry ma'am but we're closing early due to the recent dust robberies, I'm going to have to ask you to leave," he said.

Red began crying, "P-Please mister there are some bad men chasing me… th-they said they wanted to show me a good time… then… then…" she choked out with fake sobs.

The man's eyes widened and his expression softened as he walked over to her, "oh you poor thing did they hurt you?" he asked giving her a hug.

Red smirked, 'hook, line and sinker.' Reaching into her pocket she quickly jabbed the man with her Taser, causing him to spasm and fall to the floor unconscious, an expression of horror etched on to his face. Red quickly checked the rest of the store for witnesses before reporting in.

"The target is down and the store is clean, you're all clear Adam," she said trying to keep the distaste out of her voice.

"Understood we're moving in now," he replied.

Five minutes later the door bells rang and in walked Adam Taurus followed by seven White Fang grunts. Adam walked over to her as the grunts began to steal every single bit of dust they could get their hands on.

"Looks like they weren't lying when they said you were good but you know you could have made this a lot easier if you'd let us kill the target," he commented.

"You're here to observe me for the boss not question my decision making Adam, besides the plan worked didn't it?" she retorted.

Adam grunted and made his way over to help pack the dust, Red was going to help when she felt it. The familiar prickling of the skin at the back of her head, causing alarm bells to ring in her mind. Something bad was about to happen, panicking she ran over to Adam.

"We need to go! Now! Grab all the dust that we've packed so far and let's move," she ordered.

They all looked at her in surprise before turning to Adam, the Faunus held up a hand and just looked at Red frowning.

"Why do we need to go?" he asked.

"Something bad is coming, I can feel it," she explained.

"You're calling off this whole operation because of a 'bad feeling?'" he said skeptically.

The others looked just as skeptical, some were even outright laughing at her, and she felt the blood rush to her face.

"Damn it Adam, the boss put me in charge of this mission and if I say abort, we abort, got it?" she demanded, glaring as best a 15 year old could.

Adam began reaching for Wilt and Blush looking ready to tear her to shreds, instead however he sighed and nodded. Looking back to the spectating grunts he yelled, "Well you heard her get moving!"

As the grunts ran out of the store Adam turned to Red, "You're going to have to explain to the boss why we called this off and I hope for your sake it's better than 'I had a bad feeling,'" he warned.

Red nodded and they both followed the grunts out of the store to the rendezvous point. As they reached R.V point the group heard sirens growing in the distance, eyes widening they looked behind them. Ten cop cars had surrounded the store and were in the process of attempting to negotiate with the now absent White Fang. Red felt all the eyes fall upon her as the group realized just how close they'd come to disaster.

Adam slowly walked up to her, "Red next time you have a bad feeling promise me you'll punch me until I listen," he said offering a hand.

Red smiled, "I'll hold you to that Adam," she said shaking the offered hand.

"Still how did they know we were there, we set off no alarms and I think ten cars is a bit too large to be a regular patrol," she asked him.

He nodded, "you're right, the only explanation is that they already knew we were coming and that can mean only one thing."

* * *

"No Miss Xiao Long we have not heard any news on our friend's location since the locker was discovered last night," informed Ozpin.

"There must be something! People don't just disappear off the face of Remnant!" she screamed.

"Vale is a big city Miss Xiao Long, plenty of places for someone to hide if they wanted to. In fact we don't even know if she is still alive or not at this point," he explained.

"Give my team and I a break in class, we can go look for her and cover more ground," suggested Yang.

Ozpin shook his head, "no we have informed the Vale police department to be on the lookout for her as well as placed her on the missing persons list, that will do more the your team ever could."

"She should be placed on a wanted list not missing persons," she hissed.

"Miss Xiao Long, our friend is not responsible for what happened to Miss Rose. Indeed you might need to consider that she is Ruby, after all remember they did consume each other," he explained.

"That imposter is not my sister," she spat.

Ozpin just sighed, "Tell me Miss Xiao Long, what makes a person who they are? Is it their appearance, their friends and family, their drives and goals or is it a combination of all of them? What is a soul? Until you can answer these questions do you really have the right to say whether or not she is your sister?" he asked glaring at her.

Yang didn't respond and left the room without a dismissal, slamming the door on her way out. Unable to control her temper she began walking down to the training room, where she had been spending most of her time these past few days venting.

* * *

"So we have a traitor," commented Roman.

"Yes sir there is no other explanation for what happened there, if not for your agent Red here we would've been behind bars, with no dust instead of half the amount," replied Adam.

Red was sitting on a dust crate doing maintenance work on Crescent Rose as Adam reported in to Roman. Upon hearing her name she looked up from her work to see if they were talking to her, realizing they weren't she returned to her maintenance. Roman gave her a quick look before turning back to Adam.

"Your new job is to find who this rat is and put a stop to it, our employer is not a fan of traitors," he ordered.

Adam nodded, "In that case I would like to request the aid of your agent. She has shown very good powers of perception that would prove invaluable to the investigation."

Both Red and Roman looked up in surprised at this, "I can't argue with that logic, so how about it Red? Feel like working with our friend here?" asked Roman.

Red just shrugged, "why not I was just planning on calibrating Crescent Rose anyway."

"Alright then get your equipment ready and get some food from the mess hall, I'll catch you afterwards and show you around," said the Bull Faunus.

As Red left Roman turned to Adam, "so how did she do?"

"She is a very creative planner, good at manipulating others and knows how to evaluate a risk vs reward scenario," he answered.

"So don't play cards with her then," joked Roman.

Adam nodded, "but she is hesitant to kill and complicates things in order to avoid it, I can safely say she will kill if given no other choice but the motivation has to be high to do so," he smirked. "She reminds me of someone I used to know," he concluded.

Roman nodded and dismissed the White Fang lieutenant, whom then walked out to get some food and rest.

"So your newest recruit has some potential after all," came a female voice from behind him.

"Indeed not only does she have two auras, one of which is an earth aura no less but she also can also think on her feet and adapt, a rare quality nowadays," agreed Roman.

"Let us hope you can keep her loyal, it would be a problem if such an individual turned against us," she warned.

Roman turned around grinning, "don't worry I have something that will keep our Little Red in line," he said smugly.

"I hope so Roman, for your sake," threatened Cinder.

* * *

**Why is Red working for Roman? What will happen when team RWBY is reunited? And who is the traitor? Who knows I guess you'll have to wait and find out. Hope you guys enjoyed it.**


	14. The Weight of a Life

**Ok guys longer chapters it is however the updates are going to be sporadic from now on, as I'm sure you realise some chapters are easier to write then others. Also have reading through the previous chapters again I think my story is beginning to suffer from Cerberus Syndrome which might make it hard to get back to canon. Meh I find a way I guess, anyway enjoy the chapter.**

**I don't own RWBY if I did they would use shipping names as battle tactics... wait a second...**

* * *

"And this is where you'll be sleeping," informed Adam.

Red looked around the room, if it could be called that. There was barely enough room to fit the two of them in here. The room itself contained a desk and chair as well as a light that looked ready to die any minute. It didn't even have a bed instead there was a hammock with a stool at one end of the room. 'Well beats sleeping on the streets,' she thought sighing. Adam noticed her expression and stared at her disapprovingly.

"You should be grateful usually only the higher ups get their own room," he scolded.

Red nodded as she continued to study her new living quarters, frowning as she realized something. "Where's the bathroom?" she asked turning to face him.

"At the end of the hall, we use communal bathrooms Red, also there is only 5 minute showers at max," he said gesturing down the hall.

"Utility above all else huh?" she commented.

Adam merely grunted in response, "is there any place you want to check out now, if not I'm going," he asked.

Red paused for a minute thinking, reaching in to her pocket she felt the Taser present. Thinking back to the magazine incident in the Dust til Dawn she smirked, 'might as well see what else I inherited from Ruby.'

"Yeah can you show me to the armory?" she asked.

"Why?" he asked in surprise.

"My team back at Beacon wasn't entirely happy with my career change, in fact I still have the bruises on my neck to show for it. They'll come after me and I'll need a trick up my sleeve to beat them," she answered.

Adam nodded and motioned for her to follow him, he seemed to be distracted as they walked, ignoring the many salutes from his subordinates as they passed. As they arrived at the armory Adam tapped her on the shoulder.

"This may sound strange but did you know a Cat Faunus at Beacon?" he asked almost shyly.

"Sure did, Blake Belladonna, she was one of my friends," she informed him.

"Wait what do you mean 'was'?" he interrogated with much more force.

"She was on my team that tried to kill me, attempts at my own life usually means we're not friends anymore," she shot back angrily.

Adam looked shocked at this bit of information, "That's not how Blake does things she's like you, she doesn't kill unless there is no other option."

"Look I don't know! All I do know is that my own team just tried to kill me!" she exclaimed throwing her hands up in anger.

"Right sorry," he said looking apologetic.

Red nodded and walked over to the creates of dust crystals and began pulling them apart, much to Adam's horror.

"Be careful with those they are extremely volatile!" he shouted.

Red just gave him a deadpan look, "Ya don't say."

Returning to her work she frowned and turned to face him, "where do you keep the yellow dust and crystals?" asked Red, ignoring Adam's question look.

He just shook his head and pointed to another pile off in the corner. Getting up Red walked over to the pile and grabbed a crystal as well as two jars of dust. Remembering her sparing session and beat down by Yang, Red frowned. 'She's the biggest threat, Yang has probably memorized all of Ruby's attacks and she's too smart to fall for the same trick again. Then there's Blake, from what Adam said she has killed before plus her semblance is annoying. Weiss shouldn't be too big of a problem if I can catch her alone, my speed make her rapier useless, but if I get trapped in one of her stasis glyphs I'm screwed.'

Walking over she placed the dust components on a table and reached into her pocket, pulling out her Taser. Placing both it and Crescent Rose on the table she frowned, she knew she should stop using Ruby's scythe. Maybe even pull it apart and cannibalize it for a new weapon, one that would give her the advantage over team RWBY. She knew all of this and yet for some reason every time she thought about leaving or destroying it a feeling of disgust filled her, no one was doing that to her sweetheart! Red blinked, 'did I just call Crescent Rose my sweetheart?' she thought confused. She flinched as a spike of pain lanced through her, causing Red to grip her head in agony.

* * *

"_Okay Ruby you have been going well with your training, I think it's time to step it up a notch," informed Qrow._

"_You mean…" she trailed off hopefully._

_Qrow smiled, "that's right time for live weapons training," he answered._

_Ruby squealed in excitement as Qrow walked over to a nearby chest and took out what looked like a block of metal. Ruby was confused, how could that block of metal be a weapon? Was it a type of gun? No uncle Qrow mainly focused on close quarters combat not gunfights. _

"_Ruby do you know what I'm famous for?" he asked._

_She shook her head, "only that you're a really strong hunter," she replied._

_Qrow gave a chuckle, "If you think I'm strong you should see my old team-mates, no Ruby I'm famous for being one of the best scythe wielders in Remnant," he answered._

_Ruby gasped as the block of metal in his hand began to shift into the recognizable shape of a red and black scythe. Smirking at her expression Qrow walked over to her._

"_This is the basic form that all scythes share, individual wielders often design and customize them to have numerous functions, and some even put a different second form in theirs," he explained. "And this one is yours, congratulations Ruby."_

"_Oh this is so cool, I could make it split into two sickles, no that would leave me at a disadvantage at ranged combat. Oh I know I could make it shoot elemental powers, no I wouldn't have enough money for the dust required to make it. I got it! A sniper rifle embedded into the scythe, the recoil could help me in close quarters and I could use the scythe blade to stabilize it when I need to fire accurately," listed Ruby animatedly._

_Qrow looked overwhelmed at her constant stream of plans and just shook his head. Ruby looked up to him with an embarrassed expression._

"_I read your weapons magazines when you're late to training, they're really interesting," she explained._

_He just sighed, "Putting aside the fact that you read and enjoy weapon magazines that even I struggle to understand, you need to realize that this is a weapon not a toy Ruby," he said seriously._

"_I know uncle Qrow, don't worry I'll be careful," she assured him._

_Handing the scythe to her Ruby nearly dropped it, it was a lot heavier than the skinny thing looked. Struggling to lift the scythe up she attempted a basic overhead slash, only to fall on her backside dropping the scythe. _

"_Heavy isn't it?" asked Qrow helping her up. Not breaking eye contact he continued, "That is the weight of a weapon that can take a person's life. That is the weight of the responsibility that you now hold in your hands Ruby. Never forget it."_

_Qrow gave a sad smile, "Do you have a name for your monstrosity in the making," he joked._

"_I'll call it Crescent Rose," she said eyeing the scythe fondly._

_His face showed a confused expression, "Why Crescent Rose?"_

_Ruby's gaze dropped to the floor, "the blade reminds me of the moon," she said._

"_Well that explains Crescent but why Rose?" mused Qrow._

"_To remind me of what I'm fighting for," whispered Ruby._

"You okay?" asked Adam who had been watching her with mild interest.

"Yeah just a headache, I've grown used to it by now," she replied.

Bringing her attention back to the weapon in front of her she frowned. In her mind were the blue prints of the scythe down to exact detail, she could take it apart and put it back together again blindfolded. Looking at her collection on the table a plan began to form in her mind, packing everything up she walked back to Adam. 'What you're fighting for huh, so what am I fighting for? Ruby sorry but I'm going to mess with your sweetheart a little bit,' she thought with remorse.

"Hey Adam do you guys have a workshop I have some improvements to make also do you have any spare gloves I can have, the thicker the better," she said her voice neutral.

"I'll see what we've got," motioning her to follow they headed out of the armoury.

Taking one last look behind her Red gasped, stunned. With the lights off the armoury was being illuminated by the different dusts crystals, it was beautiful array of colours and Red felt like she could stare at it all day and not get bored.

"Oi Red hurry up," called Adam.

Running after him neither of them noticed the dust crystals dim as they left the armoury, nor the crystal in Red's hand continuing to glow brighter.

* * *

"Alright you all know why you're here, we have a traitor in our midst and if anyone knows who's feeding the information it will be the Schnee Company," informed the Bull Faunus.

Red along with the seven grunts from before were all looking at Adam, listening to his mission briefing while the Bullhead approached their destination.

"Our internal investigations have shown that over two days ago an unauthorized communication was sent to the police. While we can't break into the station ourselves we can be sure that the Schnee Company intercepted this call and are looking into it as well," he explained.

Red held the safety harness in a death grip, deathly pale, as the Bullhead encountered turbulence. She was never a fan of flying, she preferred her feet to be on the ground where they belonged. It might sound weird considering what she does in her parkour but say what you will she felt safer doing that then she did flying and considering the accident that started all this that was saying something.

"We're being deployed with Majestic for this mission, their job is to sabotage the facilities security. It's our job to break in get any data they have on the traitor and get out, simple as that. Any questions?" concluded Adam.

Red had heaps, the problem was the minute she opened her mouth she'd lose all her lunch. The others began preparing themselves as they began to approach the Schnee data storage facility.

"What are our ROE?" asked one of the grunts readying his weapon.

Adam gave a quick glance to Red before turning to face him, "Don't fire until fired upon after that shoot to kill," he said.

Red frowned but said nothing as the Bullhead landed on one of the rooftops, undoing her safety harness she ran outside and collapsed on the ground. The group laughed at this and even Adam had a smile on his face as they began moving on to the compound.

"Big Sky, this is Strike One, we're moving on the compound now," reported Adam into his radio.

"Understood Strike One, you've got the green light to engage," came the pilot's reply.

"Alright Red you go on ahead and scout, get as close as you can without risking yourself. The rest of you spread out we don't want to draw attention to ourselves and for God's sake hide those weapons and uniforms," he ordered.

Red nodded and began to walk down the streets of Vale when she stopped, frowning.

"What is it?" questioned Adam.

Red shook her head, "nothing… just a bad feeling."

Everyone turned to look at each other remembering the last time she had a bad feeling, suddenly very worried.

Adam frowned before activating the radio, "Majestic come in."

As feared there was nothing but an ominous silence in reply. "Big Sky we've lost contact with Majestic, can you get through?" asked Adam.

"Negative Strike One, I'll keep trying to raise them though," came the reply.

Adam turned to face them, "alright for now we stick to the plan but make sure to keep in constant radio contact."

Red nodded and headed down the streets, still aglow with lights celebrating the upcoming Vytal festival. Heading down the streets she noticed movement in the corner of her eyes, turning she immediately grabbed Crescent Rose and got into a battle stance, her heart pounding. There standing in front of one of the stores was Yang Xiao Long.

"If you think I'm going down like last time, you're sadly mistaken," she growled fingering her neck.

Yang didn't respond and instead turned to the store tapping her foot, looking very impatient. Confused Red began to prepare for a surprise attack when the shop door opened, glancing at the door Red's heart stopped, Crescent Rose falling from numb hands. Cheerfully skipping over to her sister was none other than Ruby Rose.

"Sorry for taking so long sis," apologized Ruby.

"Ruby this is the fourth bakery we've been to, you really need to start showing some restraint and that's coming from me," complained the blonde.

"But Yang they're half price during the Vytal Festival," pouted Ruby.

Yang sighed, "Ruby keep up this sugar diet and soon you won't be able to fit through the door anymore."

Grinning the blonde walked over to her sister and grabbed her bag, "so we better start burning off that sugar now."

Yanking the bag from her Yang ran down the streets calling, "catch me if you can."

Ruby blinked before running after her sister, "get back here Yang Xiao Long."

Red watched as the two sisters ran down the street before jumping as her radio went off, looking around she found the two sisters were gone, vanished without a trace. Standing stock still Red slowly picked up her scythe, 'What… What was that?' she thought hesitantly.

"Red here, what's wrong?" she spoke into the headset.

"What's wrong! We've been trying to contact you for five bloody minutes! What happened?" came Adam's angry response.

"Sorry about that, thought I saw an old team-mate and panicked, thankfully I was mistaken" she answered.

Adam sighed, "Alright we've found a place to act as a fall back point meet us there," he ordered.

Giving an affirmative Red walked down the streets to the meeting point, not noticing a security camera following her every move.

* * *

Red looked down from her vantage point on to the compound across the street, she had to say calling it a compound was a bit optimistic. It was a two story building surrounded by barb wire fences and one check point at the gate. However it was surrounded on all sides by security cameras leaving no real blind spot past the fence line to exploit. What caught both her and Adam's attention however was the line of Faunus being loaded into a truck.

"Well I guess now we know what happened to Majestic?" she joked.

The Bull Faunus just glared at her as the truck drove off, "this is not good the Schnee security never take people alive unless they want to interrogate them."

"Look I'll get the data you and the team go after Majestic," she said.

Adam looked at her ready to argue, "Adam just trust me I know what I'm doing," she pleaded.

He sighed and nodded, "ok Red we'll do it your way."

Turning back to the rest of the team he lead them off the roof top and headed back to the Bullhead for pick up. Taking a deep breath she walked over to the checkpoint with her best Ruby smile.

"Excuse me Miss this is private property of the Schnee Dust Company, I'm afraid I'm going to have to get you to leave," said one of them.

"Hi my name's Ruby Rose, Headmaster Ozpin sent me to pick up some data," she said putting as much peppiness into her voice as possible.

The two of them shared a glance, "we weren't informed of any pick ups, I'm going to need to report this to the Director," he said.

Red nodded, 'ok step one complete they didn't shoot me on sight, now I need to figure out a step two.' One of them got off his radio and walked over to her.

"The Director wants to speak to you, follow me," he told her.

* * *

"Nice to meet you Ruby Rose, my name is Leonard Church I am the director of this facility," introduced the Director.

"Now mind telling me what business Beacon has here?" he asked taking a seat.

Red sat down on her own chair her fake smile still etched onto her face, 'no way that's his name it must be a coincidence,' she thought in disbelief.

"You have some data critical for our mission against the White Fang, the headmaster sent me here fearing an attack to obtain it," she lied.

"I see well there was an attack but thankfully they didn't get very far, so you can tell your headmaster that there is nothing to worry about," concluded the director.

"With all due respect Director I was told to pick up the data not deliver a message. Weiss even said you'd help me," she argued dropping her smile.

"Yes I am aware you are team-mates with Miss Schnee, in fact that is the only reason we are speaking," he said leaning back in his chair.

"However if you were indeed sent by Miss Schnee then you must have the passcode for this facility, after all every facility has a different passcode for authorization purposes and if not you could just call her to ask," he said smirking.

"That won't be necessary," she said hastily. 'Damn it he's calling my bluff, ok think what would Weiss make as a passcode, come on aura help me out here.'

"Well Miss Rose I'm waiting," drawled the Director as two guards began to approach her chair.

Looking at him Red blinked as she had a brainwave, no person not even a Schnee could think up passcodes for every single facility. 'Which means he's the one who thought it up,' she realized. It was a long shot but it was also the only chance she had and in this case no answer was just as bad as a wrong answer. 'Screw it I always raise the pot when I have a bad hand anyway,' she thought smirking.

"The passcode is Allison," Red announced.

The Director's smirk dropped and his expression darkened instantly, the two guards gripped her shoulders hard. Red's body began to go into overdrive as she struggled to get free from their vice like grip.

"No stop, let her go," ordered the Director, dismissing them with a wave of his hand.

Sitting back down he breathed an exasperated sigh, "My apologies Miss Rose but I had to be sure you were telling the truth."

Red's heart slowed down as she began to relax and a relieved smile crept along her face. Rubbing her shoulders she nodded to him.

"I understand Director you can never be too careful these days, especially with the White Fang running around," she replied.

The Director nodded and got up from his chair, "indeed, if you would please follow me Miss Rose we will get the required data ready for you."

Red had to struggle to keep a triumphant smirk off her face, "of course Director after you."

* * *

Weiss had been having a quiet day, Yang was off on one of her venting sessions in the training room as usual and Blake had gone to check for any news about Ruby. Sighing she was about to have a nap on her bed when her scroll went off. Groaning she got off her bed and angrily opened up the scroll before frowning. It was a message from the data storage site 17-B, 'why did they send me a message usually dad deals with these kinds of things?' she wondered. Her curiosity getting the better of her she opened up the message her eyes growing wide.

_A memo to Weiss Schnee, the daughter of Mr. Schnee and owner of the Schnee Dust Company, from the Director of Site 17-B 'Valhalla.'_

_Dear Miss Schnee,_

_I would like to remind you that this facility is to be used by the company only and it would be appreciated if you did not announce the data we collect to third parties. I have spoken with your father about this and he agrees with me, we both know being a huntress is important to you but please keep in mind that you are a Schnee first and huntress second. Secondly the next time something like this comes up we would appreciate it if you did not show up unannounced and do not, I repeat DO NOT give out our passcodes to your team-mates again, no matter how good friends you are. If I see Miss Rose in my facility again YOU will be held responsible, the next time Ozpin asks for some of our classified data there will be consequences. I do hope I have made myself clear, I do not give second chances, no matter who the individual is Miss Schnee._

_Sincerely yours, The Director of Site 17-B Dr. Leonard Church._

Weiss just sat there staring at the scroll in shock, 'what's going on I never gave out any of the passcodes to anyone!' she thought. Suddenly her eyes widened, 'wait a minute Miss Rose, Ruby was there! But why and how?' Frowning she quickly typed a message explaining the situation, asking for every single bit of detail of his encounter. So consumed was she that she didn't notice Blake walk into the dorms until the Faunus tapped her on the shoulder, causing her to scream and jump, much to Blake's amusement.

"Blake don't do that!" she yelled.

"Sorry but I did call you several times, what has you so interested anyway?" asked Blake.

"I've found something about Ruby," explained the heiress.

Blake's eyes widened as Weiss handed her the message, quickly reading it she turned to Weiss looking shocked. Noting her expression Weiss nodded and took back her scroll.

"Weiss this is big, are you sure this information is reliable? Why would Ruby break in to a Schnee data compound?" she said in disbelief.

"I don't know but the Director isn't the kind of man who would lie about this, he and my father work closely on many projects together. If he says Ruby was there then she was there," responded Weiss.

"What worries me more however is that she knew the passcode for the facility, no one but the directors of each facility and the Schnee family themselves know this," she elaborated worried.

"It could be someone else using her name," suggest Blake.

Weiss nodded, "that's why I was about to search the footage from the security cameras from last night to see if I could find her."

"Good but first, have you informed your father of this?" asked Blake concerned.

"No I was about to send a message explaining the situation to the Director, hopefully he could give us some information on what happened that night," replied Weiss.

Blake looked up in alarm, "Weiss delete that message now!" she demanded.

Weiss jumped at this, "what? Why? It could help us find Ruby," she asked in confusion.

The Faunus just sighed, rubbing her temples, "Weiss if they find out that Ruby has gone rogue and broken in to one of their facilities, they will hunt her down and lock her up or worse."

"You're exaggerating," replied her white haired team-mate.

"Am I? Remember how furious they were when they thought that you had given her the passcode, now imagine what'd they'd do if they found out you didn't," argued the Faunus.

Weiss opened her mouth to keep arguing before shutting it again thinking, 'she may have a point,' she thought remembering numerous people who had simply vanished for exposing less. Bringing up the message she hovered her finger over the delete button and taking a deep breath she deleted it.

"Ok let's get to work we have a lot of footage to go over," she said placing her scroll down.

* * *

"Congratulations Miss Xiao Long that was an increase-" began the computer.

"Again," she interrupted.

"Resetting training room floor," stated the computer as more training robots spawned from the sides.

Yang growled unloading punch after punch into the robots, which had been running into short supply recently. _Tell me Miss Xiao Long, what makes a person who they are?_ Roaring she rounded on her next target._ My dearest sister Yang, are you implying that I'm weak? I'm hurt that my own sister thinks so little of me_. Dodging its sloppy attempt to catch her by surprise she preceded to punch through its head in a single hit. _Does it really matter if she is or isn't Ruby?_ Ripping her fist out of the sparking wreck she blocked a blow to her head before grabbing the offenders arm and ripping it out of its socket. _Hey sis, you okay?_ Using the arm as a spear she threw it into another, piecing and pinning it to the wall. _Don't call her that! That imposter is not my sister! _Rolling to the side she grabbed the one armed drone and spun, throwing it into the remaining robots. _You might need to consider that she is Ruby_. Charging the still recovering drones she grabbed two of them and slammed their heads together, the force fusing them together permanently. _Under the circumstances I think I'm doing rather well_. Yang side stepped another poorly aimed blow and counter attacked with a sweep kick, knocking the last drone to the ground. _Do you really have the right to say whether or not she is your sister?_ Screaming she straddled the unfortunate survivor, raining blow after blow on it even as it stopped twitching. Panting Yang got up, surrounded by smoking lumps of misshapen metal that were once her opponents.

"Again!" she bellowed.

"Unfortunately there are no more combat drones are available, we apologize for the inconvenience," replied the computer.

Yang sat down leaning against the wall, clutching her legs as tears began rolling down her face. 'I failed, I promised her, I promised I'd keep Ruby safe for her.' Yang wiped away the tears and began walking to the dorms. 'The imposter isn't Ruby I know it, so why do I feel so bad about what I did? I was trying to fulfill my promise, wasn't I?' she questioned. Opening the door to her dorm she saw Blake and Weiss crowding around the heiress' scroll. Frowning she walked up behind them and her eye's flashed red, there on the scroll was the imposter walking down a very recognizable street of Vale.

_Smiling she walked over to Ruby and grabbed her bag, "so we better start burning off that sugar now."_

_Yanking the bag from her sister's grasp she bolted down the street teasingly taunting her little sister. Not too long after she heard someone approaching followed by a voice calling, "get back here Yang Xiao Long!"_

Shaking her head she tapped both of them on the shoulder, causing both to flinch as they slowly turned around.

"You two have some explaining to do," she threatened cracking her knuckles.

* * *

"So let me get this straight, your big plan was to walk in and just ask for the data?" said Roman pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Yeap," she replied cheerfully.

The entire warehouse was silent as everyone began staring at her in shock. Red looked around in confusion suddenly wishing she was somewhere else.

"Umm… did I do something wrong? I got the data and got out isn't that what we wanted?" she asked.

"Wait that actually worked!" exclaimed Adam.

Handing over the data chip Red smiled, "Apparently Ozpin needed that data for a 'critical mission.' So he sent me to pick up a copy to take it back to Beacon, after all you can never be too careful with those White Fang running around. Who knows what they'd do with it."

Everyone in the warehouse burst out laughing and even Roman had to smile at that. Adam just shook his head muttering, "You're mad."

Red turned to him grinning, "Thank goodness for that because if I wasn't that probably would never have worked."

Her grin dropped however as she heard bang from behind her. Frowning she spun around and saw three people trapped in cages, banging on the bars screaming insults. She glared at Adam whom met her glare with one of his one.

"Listen Red, I know how you feel about this but these four are bad people, you saw what they we're going to do to Majestic," reasoned Adam.

"So you think that justifies this sort of treatment?" she shot back.

"Turnabout is fair play," he responded coldly.

Red began walking to her room disgusted, "it's that kind of thinking that caused Blake to leave Adam."

Adam growled and was about to run after her when he felt something grab him in a headlock. Eye's widening he attempted to break the hold when a knife appeared at his throat. 'How the hell did he get out and why didn't I notice him,' thought Adam furiously.

"Alright listen up you're going to get my three friends out of those cages or the bull gets it," threatened the prisoner.

Roman just shook his head, "you know we can't do that plus he's expendable and if you kill him you die next," he stated as casually as one might discus the weather.

"I'm being serious here! I will kill him!" he yelled waving the knife for emphasis.

The minute the knife was away from his neck Adam sprang into action, head butting his captor whom released his hold in surprise. However he underestimated the human who recovered quickly and before anyone could react grabbed Adam by the neck and bringing his knife down for a killing blow.

_BANG_

And just as quickly the man's head disappeared in a shower of red as his body fell to the floor. Everyone turned to the source of the sound to see Red holding Crescent Rose in trembling hands, an expression of pure horror on her face.

* * *

**There you guys go, damn this is getting pretty dark. Next chapter won't be so bad I promise, surprisingly enough I'm actually looking forward to writing Yang and Red's meeting should be fun. So originally I wanted the compound infiltration to be based off a Shadowrun mission I did, basically they'd steal a garbage truck and just go screw stealth and drive through the checkpoint and blow shit up but I decided that was too far and changed it sorry to anyone that would have rather done that. Still I'm happy that it turned out, this way I got to focus on team RWBY for a bit. Anyway as a little game I put in many different references to different series, both obvious and subtle, see how many you can find.**


	15. A Trip Down Memory Lane

**Alright I'm going to apologise in advance but I didn't have time to edit this properly as I will be away for the weekend and I wanted to update before I left so sorry for all the grammar errors I'll try to fix them when I get back. **

**I don't own RWBY if I did the shopkeeper would stop owning so many damn ****businesses.**

* * *

Red looked around her confused, there was no comforting weight of Crescent Rose or the feeling of drag from her cloak that she had grown accustom to. Frowning she looked around, this wasn't any part of Vale she recognized and yet it seemed strangely familiar. Her eyes widened as she recognized where she was, 'no way' she thought in shock. Tears of joy streaming down her face and a wide smile growing larger she ran down the familiar streets. Coming upon a familiar house she nearly cried out in joy, 'it's here, it's really here.' Taking a deep breath she skipped up and knocked on the door, praying the right person answered, as the door swung open.

"Honey where have you been? You're late for dinner, we're starting to get worried. Did you get lost in the storm? You haven't been jumping from rooftops again I hope, honestly it will be the death of you," came a female voice.

Red didn't respond and just ran into her knocking them both over, embracing her with a hug and refusing to let go, sobbing as she felt a hand stroke her head.

"Shh… it's okay honey its okay I'm here, tell me did something happen?" she asked concerned.

"No I've just missed you all so much," answered Red.

"Alright missy if you're trying to get out of punishment for being late it's not working, now come on dinner is just about ready," she joked.

Red just smiled and wiped away the tears, "thanks mom, it's good to be home."

* * *

It was really here, her room, her bed, even her computer, exactly like she left it. Unable to contain her joy she began jumping up and down on her bed, much to the chagrin of her mother.

"Honey stop that you're acting like a child," she scolded.

"I'm not a child, I drink milk," stated Red, proudly puffing out her chest.

Her mother just raised her eyebrows, "anyway get down from there I need you to help me set up the table."

"Sure thing, by the way what is for dinner? It smells good," asked Red.

"Roast Nevermore," came the reply.

Red stumbled nearly dropping the plates, "what did you say?"

"I said we're having roast chicken," answered her irritated mother.

"Oh sorry, I thought you said something else," she apologized.

Taking her seat at the table she frowned, 'why is there four plates, are we expecting a visitor?' she wondered. Her parents for their part didn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary, as they looked at the empty seat with a look of irritation.

"Looks like your sister decided not to join us again," sighed her father.

Red blinked, "my… sister? What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Now honey you shouldn't say things like that, I know that she's been spending a lot of time at clubs instead of with you but that is no excuse for this kind of behaviour," lectured her mother.

"Leave her be Summer, they're siblings it's natural for them to fight," commented her father.

'Summer?' A cold feeling began washing over Red as she slowly checked her reflection in the silver wear, 'please don't be her, please don't be her,' she chanted with closed eyes. Opening them she dropped the spoon and began trembling, sure enough there was Ruby staring back at her with wide eyes and a horrified expression. Her parents looked at each other concerned but before they could speak up an alarm went off in the kitchen.

"Looks like dinner is ready," said her father gaining an odd smile.

"Oh yes, honey you're getting a treat today," her mother told her sporting a similar grin as she walked into the kitchen.

Red snapped out of her stupor at this and looked between them in confusion, her parents never smiled like that. Getting up from her chair she began to reach for Crescent Rose only to find the scythe missing, attempting to use her semblance resulting in a failure to. Her father got up from his chair and grabbed Red, pushing her back into her seat. The lights in the room were beginning to dim and the walls were losing their colour, oily black shadows now visible on their surface. No longer was this Red's home in its place was house of horrors as the sounds of screaming and gunfire being heard over the creaking of the floors and walls.

"Now now you're mother went through a lot of trouble to make this meal for you, the least you can do is enjoy it," he said manically as her mother came back in holding a silver platter.

"What is that," asked Red, fearfully gazing at the platter.

"A meal fit for a murderer like you!" spat her mother, removing the top.

Red screamed and immediately began to struggle out of her father's grip, there on the platter was the head of the man she killed, staring blankly at her. Her mother started bringing the platter over to her with an innocent smile.

"What's the matter honey? Did you think we wouldn't find out? Do you not like to see the consequences of your actions," she said in a sickeningly sweet tone.

Biting her father's hand she broke free from his hold and ran to the door. Escaping into the streets Red didn't stop running until she'd left the house far behind. Heading into the nearest bathroom she vomited into the sink, the images still fresh in her mind. Looking up she stared into her foreign reflection in the mirror, her face twisting into an expression of rage at the sight of it.

"Damn you Ruby, damn you to hell!" she screamed punching the mirror, causing her to be showered in fragments of glass.

Unable to take it anymore she fell to the floor sobbing, only to stop when she felt someone approach her. Looking up she saw two red robed hooded figures sitting across from her holding out their hands, snarling Red slapped them away and continued sobbing.

* * *

Red's eyes flew open as she fell from the hammock, looking around she found that she was in her tiny room. Rubbing her head from the impact she sighed in relief, 'it was just a dream but who were they?.' Deciding that any attempt to get more sleep that night would be pointless she began walking to the armoury hoping to see the light show again. Heading into the armoury she was surprised to see it was already occupied by Adam and Roman, whom seemed to be in an argument. Her curiosity getting the better of her she began sneaking over, hiding behind a dust create as she attempted to eavesdrop on the two.

"I'm telling you Roman she isn't ready, you saw how she reacted before," argued Adam.

"The first kill is always like that, she'll get over it," remarked the crook offhandedly.

"There's a difference between killing in self-defence and murder Roman. You're taking it too far with this 'test' of yours, how do you know she'll do it?" asked the Faunus.

"Simple necessity, she broke into a Schnee compound to help the White Fang and one of Vale's most wanted criminals, there aren't a lot of allies that can be made after something like that and she knows it," he told Adam.

"Besides," he said smirking, "I have something she wants, she scratches my back I scratch her's."

Adam looked unconvinced, "and this thing is enough to keep her loyal to you?"

"Why don't we just ask her personally, so Red feel like doing a little job for me," he called in amusement.

Realizing that she'd been discovered she came out of hiding and walked over to them with a rueful smile.

"How long have you known?" she asked curious.

"Since you walked in," he answered smirking. "Word to the wise Red, a giant red hooded cloak is not what you wear when trying to be stealthy."

Red just shrugged, "so what's this job you want me to do?"

Adam turned to look at her sighing, "we've found the traitor."

* * *

Yang didn't take the fact that they had been hiding things about the imposter to well, as shown by the meter long hole now connecting team JNPR and RWBY's dorms. After interrogating them for all they knew she went to Ozpin hoping to get permission to hunt her down. The headmaster of Beacon looked slightly shocked at this news.

"Miss Xiao Long, if this is some misguided attempt for you and your team to go looking for her then you will be facing expulsion," he threatened clearly not amused.

"This is the truth headmaster both Weiss and Blake can verify it, I would like for my team to go searching for her, I can't think of a good reason to break into a Schnee compound, " answered Yang.

"I agree which is why I am sending team JNPR after her," replied Ozpin.

Yang jumped up and slammed her fists onto the desk causing cracks to form, "what did you say?" she asked her voice deceptively calm.

Ozpin wasn't impressed with her outburst, "Miss Xiao Long calm yourself," he scolded. "You and your team are too connected to this case that is why I am not sending you after her," he explained.

Yang sat down in her chair again, looking the headmaster in the she frowned, "with all due respect Ozpin do you really think that they can win?" she asked.

Ozpin frowned at her, "what do you mean Miss Xiao Long?"

"As someone who has spared with Ruby since childhood let me tell you they would be hard pressed to beat her, even more so if this Earth aura has made her stronger," she elaborated.

Ozpin gave her curious look, "and what would you suggest?" he asked, already knowing where this was going.

"You need someone who has experience fighting her and right now my team is your best bet, we've all sparred with Ruby before so we have some ideas of her abilities," argued Yang.

Ozpin looked at her obviously weighing the pros and cons of each choice, eventually he sighed, "very well Miss Xiao Long you've made you point. Team RWBY is hereby authorized to find Ruby Rose and bring her back here," he announced.

Yang smiled triumphantly, "don't worry headmaster we won't fail."

* * *

Red sneezed, "augh damn it I knew that room would make me sick, stupid Adam and his Spartan attitude," she grumbled.

Thinking back to the Bull Faunus she frowned and reached into her pocket pulling out a piece of paper.

"_This is the traitor's address," informed Adam. "We want you to go and deal with him, if he sees any of us he'll be ready but he doesn't know about you,"_

_Red just frowned, "you want me to do your dirty work again?" she asked furious._

"_Careful Red remember our deal," reminded Roman._

"_A deal that you have yet to come through on!" she shot back._

"_Well I am a busy man dust isn't going to steal itself after all, rest assured Red that I will hold up my end of the bargain if you hold up yours," answered Roman._

"_Fine give me the bloody address," snapped Red, glaring daggers at Roman._

Red sighed, "How did I let him talk me into this?"

"Hello Ruby it's good to see you again," came a female voice interrupting her thoughts.

Red jumped spinning around her hand on Crescent Rose, "gah Penny where did you come from?" she asked the ginger.

Penny cocked her head, "I come from Atlas, why do you ask?"

Red just shook her head a faint trace of a smile on her face, "never mind Penny, anyway nice to see you again, I could use the friendly face," she said muttering the last part.

Penny smiled, "oh wait until I tell the others that I found you they'll be so happy, they've been looking everywhere for you," she said excitedly.

Red grabbed her, alarm bells ringing in her head, "wait Penny you can't tell them anything please, it's umm… a game we're seeing how long it takes for them to find me," she lied.

"Oh that explains why your team-mates are searching the city and why Yang brought her motorcycle," said the oblivious ginger.

Red felt the blood drain from her face and weakly grabbed her friend, "P-Penny are you saying that they're searching the city right now?" she asked fearfully.

Penny nodded cheerfully, "yep don't worry friend Ruby I won't ruin the game for you since you're all taking it so seriously."

"Thanks Penny I appreciate that, by the way could you tell me where this store is I'm a little lost," she admitted handing Penny a piece of paper.

Looking at it Penny nodded and directed her down the street to a nearby store, "thanks for the help Penny and remember don't tell my… friends where I am ok?"

"Understood!" replied Penny giving a fake salute.

Red nodded and pulled her hood up as she walked into the store as Penny walked off, looking around she saw that she was in the room alone. 'Good no witnesses' she thought gratefully while heading to the counter and ringing the bell.

"Be right there," came a male voice.

The door opened and a male came out holding two stacks of books, placing the books on the counter he gave Red a welcoming smile.

"Welcome to Tukson's book trade home to every book under the sun," he said warmly. "How may I help you?"

'Do I really want to do this? I can still back out. But if I do the deal with Roman's off as well as my source of food and shelter,' she debated. Tukson must have noticed something was wrong as he began curiously watching her.

"Are you ok Miss?" he asked concerned.

Red sighed, "are you Tukson?" she asked keeping her voice level.

"Yeah that's me, is there a problem?" he said confused.

Red semblanced over to the lights, shutting them off before unsheathing her scythe, "Roman sends his regards."

* * *

"Yang we've been searching for hours we need a break," she argued.

"Fine take your breaks but I'm going to keep looking for her," came an angry response from her scroll.

Blake just sighed before turning to Weiss, "I'm going to visit an old friend you want to come with me?" she offered the heiress.

Weiss considered it for a moment before shrugging, "sure anything is better than listening to Yang's constant updates."

Blake nodded and led the way looking slightly happier than usual, after all it has been a long time since she last saw him. 'I wonder how Tukson's doing nowadays,' she thought fondly. Arriving at the store she frowned, he never had the lights off during work hours. She slowly walked to the door unsheathing Gambol Shroud, drawing a confused look from Weiss who followed suite with Myrtenaster. Opening the door they were shocked to see Ruby walking towards Tukson with her scythe drawn, Blake acted quickly firing her pistol only to see her prey disappear in a flash of rose petals. She heard something rapidly approaching her from the side, spinning she blocked Crescent Rose with her katana.

"Weiss call Yang tell her we need back up now and get Tukson out of here," she ordered.

"Got it," replied Weiss taking out her scroll as Tukson ran from the store.

Ruby tried to intercept them but Blake grabbed her hood, throwing her into the wall, causing books to fly everywhere. Ruby stood up looking at her with an uncaring expression. Blake frowned, she'd seen that expression before during her time with the White Fang. That was the attitude of someone who just didn't care anymore and detached themselves from others. 'What could have happened to make her like that?' she thought concerned.

"Why are you after Tukson?" she interrogated.

"He's a traitor," answered Ruby like it was the most obvious thing.

"So he deserves to die for it, what about me? Are you going to kill me?" she spat angrily.

For a brief moment she saw it, a flash of guilt cross Ruby's eyes but it was gone in an instant. Ruby charged her only for her scythe to cut through an illusion as Blake appeared beside her, giving an overhead slash that Ruby blocked quarterstaff style.

"Ruby I can see you don't want to do this, please just come with us we can work this out," she said attempting to reason with her team-mate.

"Yeah right, I bet as we speak Yang's lighting the torches and sharpening the pitchforks, I trusted you before Blake and look what happened, I don't make the same mistakes twice," snarled Ruby.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry," replied Blake.

Ruby looked surprised at this but recovered quickly, grabbing Blake's katana she forced it to keep contact with Crescent Rose and gave the Faunus an apologetic look.

"For what it's worth so am I," she replied.

Blake frowned in confusion before she felt searing pain erupt throughout her body, unable to take it anymore she felt her body hit the floor and everything turned dark.

* * *

Weiss told Tukson to hide as took out her scroll and she quickly dialled Yang's number.

"Hey Ice Queen you found anything yet?" joked Yang.

"Not the time Yang, we've found Ruby she's in Tukson's Book Trade in the western district, Blake's keeping her busy right now but she needs help, get over here now!" she said urgently.

"I'm on my way just make sure she doesn't get away," replied Yang all traces of the joke gone from her voice.

"I'll try but you better hurry," replied Weiss hanging up.

She turned back to the store ready to run in and help Blake when a flash of light was seen followed by Blake screaming in pain. Weiss gripped Myrtenaster tighter as the door opened and out strode Ruby calmly holding her scythe over her shoulder.

"What… what did you do to Blake?" she asked slightly fearful.

Ruby just shrugged, "who knows," she replied looking around frowning.

"Where's Tukson?" she asked.

"Somewhere safe," said Weiss.

"I see looks like this was a failure then, goodbye Weiss Schnee," said Ruby as she walked away.

"Hold it!" screamed Weiss throwing a stasis glyph at Ruby's feet.

Ruby disappeared just as the glyph formed looking unimpressed, "you can't beat me Weiss, don't be an idiot."

Weiss glared at her, "I don't need to beat you, you dolt, just keep you busy until Yang gets here."

For the first time Weiss saw a flash of fear cross Ruby's face, 'looks like Yang made an impression after all,' she thought smirking. Her smirk dropped however as Ruby turned to look at her with cold eyes and unleashed a barrage from Crescent Rose. Using her glyphs she dodged to the side and launched fireballs in return fire, causing Ruby to have to dive to the side. As they circled each other both became aware of a growing sound in the distance, 'she took her time,' thought Weiss smirking. Ruby heard it too and attempted to flee but tripped as Weiss turned the ground to ice below her. Turning Ruby gave her an angry glare which quickly evaporated into fear as they heard the sound of a bike skidding to a halt.

"Well long time no see."

* * *

"Well long time no see," came a voice from behind her.

Red went pale and a hand unconsciously stroked her neck, 'this isn't good I could barely beat Yang by herself and with Weiss helping this just got harder too.' She turned slightly to the side keeping both of them in view. 'At least I still have the trick up my sleeve I need to save it though until I know I can hit Yang.'

"Not long enough Yang Xiao Long," she replied.

"Don't worry after today you won't ever see me again," growled Yang deploying Ember Celica.

"Be careful Yang she did something to Blake before," warned Weiss.

Yang nodded to her before charging Red, whom tried to back away only to find herself trapped by one of Weiss' glyphs. Quickly firing rounds into the heiress she was able to stun her enough to break the glyph, only to receive a shotgun punch to the chest from the brawler sending her flying into a nearby wall. Jumping out she used her semblance to appear next to Yang deliberately within her guard hoping that she'd take the bait, sure enough once it was close enough the blonde caught the scythe mid swing.

"You're a slow learner huh? Or did you already forget our spar?" taunted Yang.

"Oh I wouldn't say that," replied Red with a triumphant grin as she activated her trap.

Suddenly with a flash of light Crescent Rose came alive with arcs of electricity, crackling as it ran down the scythe's lengths. Yang screamed as the electricity raced up her arm shocking her and igniting the dust rounds stored in Ember Celica effectively rendering the weapon useless. The brawler swayed before she tumbled to the ground, smirking Red turned to Weiss, Crescent Rose still crackling with energy as it arced from the ground to her scythe. To her credit Weiss hid her fear well as Red slowly approached her.

"It's amazing what you can do with a Taser and some dust isn't Schnee," she commented admiring her sparking scythe.

As she was taunting Weiss she felt her aura give her a warning, glancing behind she saw a truck rapidly approaching. Red's eyes widened as she saw its course leading it directly into the unconscious Yang, Weiss noticed it too.

"No Yang!" cried the heiress as she tried unsuccessfully to form a stasis glyph around the truck.

Red didn't think she just ran as fast as her semblance could carry her, diving she grabbed Yang shielding her with her body just as the truck hit. She saw a flash of red light before blanking out completely.

* * *

Red woke up hand cuffed to what seemed to be an infirmary bed, feeling for Crescent Rose she found it missing and nowhere in sight. Attempting to sit up she groaned as her back flared with intense pain, Red looked around recognizing the room, 'ah Beacon infirmary how I've missed you so,' she thought jokingly.

"You're early, we didn't expect you up for at least another hour," called a voice.

Looking over she saw Glynda Goodwitch walking over to her while typing on her scroll, most likely sending a message to Ozpin.

"What happened and why does my back hurt?" she asked.

Glynda gave her a brief scowl, "you jumped in front of a moving truck Miss Rose, you should be dead not having a back ache."

"Um… not that I'm complaining but if that's true how am I alive?" she said confused.

Glynda looked at her surprised, "you don't remember?"

Red just shook her head, "all I remember is a red flash of light and then nothing," she answered.

The teacher just rubbed her temples, "that red light was your aura Miss Rose, you managed to push all your aura to one side to create a near indestructible protective barrier. Only the most expert aura masters can do this and yet you apparently did it without thinking."

"Now come along the headmaster wishes to speak to you," concluded the professor, unlocking the cuffs and grabbing her by the wrist.

Red considered struggling but her back was in no condition to run or fight so she just let herself be dragged into the interrogation room, where Glynda then cuffed her to the desk before turning around and leaving.

Red didn't have to wait long as five minutes later Ozpin came in with two cups of coffee, "welcome back Miss Rose, white and two sugars correct?"

Red looked down on the ground and didn't say anything as he placed the mugs on the table before taking his seat.

Ozpin just sighed, "I've known you were from Earth since the day Miss Xiao Long brought you to my office," he admitted.

He took a deep breath, "I know this may seem cruel but I need you to answer these questions, first tell me about your family how big was it?"

Red looked up confused at where this was going, "it was a family of four, me, my mother, my father and my sister… wait three I had no sister," she answered confused.

"I see," said Ozpin. "Tell me what was your mother's name?"

"Summer… no that was Ruby's," said Red clutching her head.

"Never mind I have just one last question, what is your name?" asked Ozpin leaning forward.

"Red," she replied.

"And what is your real name Red?" he asked gently.

Red frowned, "it's Ruby Ro-," she shut her mouth in confusion.

Ozpin gave her a pitying look, "you don't even remember your own name do you?"

Red just gripped her head tears beginning to form, "shut up! Shut up and leave me alone!" she screamed at him a faint red outline beginning to glow around her body.

"No I cannot, Miss Rose right now I'm the only thing standing between you and a prison sentence, I know you're a good person you've proven that time and again so please tell me, why did you help Roman?"

Red flinched and her hands began shaking as her dream came back to haunt her, "I'm not a good person I'm a monster Ozpin, besides everyone has their price and Roman found mine," she muttered depressed.

"_Now now no need for that, I've just got a business proposition for you," said Roman smiling._

"_Oh and in what world would I ever agree to work with you?" countered Red._

"_That depends preferably Remnant but I suppose I could take you to Earth if you want," commented the crook._

"_How do you know about Earth?" she asked suspicious._

"_Let's just say a little birdie told me and if you work for me I'll help you go back there," proposed Roman._

"_You're lying if there was a way to go back people would have found it already," she argued._

"_Who's to say they haven't?" questioned the criminal with a smile._

"_What do you mean?" asked Red curious._

"_A couple of months ago I came across some very strange items on the black market, technology that doesn't run off dust. Needless to say I asked around and found that no one in Remnant produced them, so that begs the question who is the supplier?" he grinned._

"_And you expect me to believe the word of Vale's most wanted," she snorted._

_Roman didn't say anything and instead reached into his pocket and threw something at her, "recognize that little gizmo," he asked smugly._

_Red caught it and examined it with widening eye's, it was a military grade Taser. Red looked at it debating before turning to Roman, "alright I'm in."_

Red shook her head and glanced at Ozpin, whom just sighed and left the room leaving Red to her thoughts, _you don't even remember your own name do you?_

"I don't deserve it anyway, not now," she said closing her eyes as tears came down her cheeks.

* * *

Team RWBY was silent as they watched the interrogation behind the glass, none of them said a word as they listened each with mixed emotions. Upon seeing Ozpin leave Blake and Weiss got up went back to their dorm, Yang stayed there watching the sobbing girl in front of her for a few minutes before following her team-mates out.

* * *

Red opened her eyes to wake up on what looked to be a path in a snow covered forest, panicking she felt for Crescent Rose and to her relief found it present in its holster. She looked up to the moon and to her surprise found it to be whole, its bright light illuminating the pristine white environment. Deciding there was no point in sticking around Red followed the path, hoping to find a way out when she heard it. A low growl followed by a multitude of voices whispering to her as they came closer.

_Liar!_

Red's instincts screamed at her to run as oily shadows became visible on the edges of the path, following her as she tried to run, whispering all the way.

_Thief!_

She couldn't out run them even with her semblance they were always there, always just standing there whispering at her.

_Coward!_

The moon began to lose it luminance as Red continued running, the forest losing its white and slowly turning black as it was consumed by the darkness until only the path was left, a single light burning in the darkness.

_Betrayer!_

Red felt something grab her shoulder, without thinking she unleashed Crescent Rose on her attacker, cutting it in two. She stopped, looking at her attacker's bisected corpse screaming, there bleeding on the ground was Yang an expression of shock and hurt on her face.

_Murderer!_

She fell to the ground hyperventilating as bits of the path began to break apart and the darkness slowly crept in. Why was she running? The dark can make the pain go away, no more running, no more guilt, no more suffering. Everything would be so much simpler, anyone who gets in her way is an enemy and anyone who is an enemy dies. Getting off the ground she slowly walked over to the shadows who began jumping with a disturbed glee holding out a hand.

_One of us! Daughter of darkness. _

Just as Red was about to grab the out stretched hand when another sound came flowing down the path, a familiar voice.

…_come fill to me the Parting Glass…_

Pausing she frowned before turning away and heading after the voice causing the shadows to scream in rage and whisper again. Red ignored them focusing entirely on the sound that was calling to her, the darkness beginning to retreat as the light returned. The shadows howled in pain and fled as she left the forest and arrived at a clearing. Looking around for the source of the sound she saw the red cloaked figure from before sitting on a rock overlooking the forest down below, singing.

"Hey who are you and how do you know that song?" demanded Red walking over.

The figure turned to her jumping down from the rock and slowly lowered her hood. Red gasped, it was her from before the accident, her blue eyes and blonde hair present with a mischievous smirk on her face. Seeing her state of shock the copy smiled, motioning for Red to follow she sprinted off into the woods.

"Hey wait stop," Red called chasing after her.

Red followed the figure through the forest in a game of cat and mouse until they came to a cave, as the figure walked in she hesitated and after a few seconds just sighed as she followed it in, 'this has got to be the stupidest decision I've ever made.' As she walked in she stopped mid stride looking around in complete shock, 'was that… me? Wait where am I?' she thought in disbelief. She wasn't in a cave but instead on the roof of Beacon and in front of her was herself talking to Pyrrha and Jaune.

"Nope," replied her double cheerfully. "Jaune courage isn't the absence of fear or despair but rather the strength to conquer them".

Red watched as her double walked up to Jaune and gave him a friendly punch, "besides I don't know of many cowards who would willingly sneak into a school designed to fight monster and full of warriors who could beat the crap out of them".

She gave a little chuckle at that, 'I guess we weren't so different after all, right Jaune,' she thought giving her first real full smile since she ran away. Red jumped as she felt someone tap her shoulder, spinning she saw none other than Ruby Rose grin at her before running out the door back into the main building.

"What the? Hey! Get back here!" she yelled in pursuit.

Running after her Red nearly tripped as she leapt over a sleeping bag that had suddenly appeared in front of her. 'Why are there sleeping bags in the ballroom?' she wondered looking around.

"Hel-looooo! I believe you two may know each other?" came a cheerful call.

Red looked to her side in surprise, there was Yang dragging a struggling Ruby to Blake. 'Oh I remember now, this is where I first met Blake, I mean where Ruby first met Blake,' she realized. Watching from the distance Red snickered at Yang's failed attempt to talk to the Faunus, however she stopped seeing Ruby come forward.

"What's it about?" she asked curious.

Seeing Blake's confused expression she elaborated, "Your book. Does it have a name?"

"Well... i-it's about a man with two souls, each fighting for control over his body," explained Blake hesitantly.

Red looked up in surprise, "I can relate to that," she mumbled grimly.

"Oh, yeah... That's real lovely!" said Yang sarcastically.

Ruby ignored her and smiled, "I love books. Yang used to read to me every night before bed. Stories of heroes and monsters... They're one of the reasons I want to be a Huntress!"

Red laughed, "Yeah you did it so much Yang had to threaten you to go to bed."

Blake gave her own little chuckle, "And why is that? Hoping you'll live happily ever after?"

Ruby nodded, "Well, I'm hoping we all will. As a girl, I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books... Someone who fought for what was right, and protected people who couldn't protect themselves!"

Red flinched remembering the incident at Forever Falls, 'if it wasn't for her I would have let him die, I'm truly a monster,' she thought depressed.

"That's... very ambitious for a child," she said smiling however the smile quickly was replaced with a frown. "Unfortunately, the real world isn't the same as a fairy tale."

Red nodded, "we know that better than most, don't we Blake," she said, her hands shaking slightly.

Ruby didn't seem affected by it, "Well, that's why we're here! To make it better."

Red froze, staring at her hands as they stopped trembling, "to make it better huh?" she mused her mind elsewhere.

Snapping out of her daze she looked up and found herself in a cave, this time with her double and Cardin. Joining the two of them she sat around the fire listening to the conversation.

Her double gave an encouraging smile, "Look Cardin, the way I see it every life is a pile of good and bad things and while the good things don't always soften the bad things, the bad things don't necessarily spoil the good things or make them unimportant."

'Did I really say that?' she thought confused.

Red watched as her clone put a hand on Cardin's shoulder, "remember the good times you had with them, but don't let the bad things taint their memories. If you can stop living in the past then maybe you'll be able to recreate those happy times with your friends now, after all it's called the present for a reason," finished the copy.

Red blinked and instantly fell down, as the camp fire disappeared, she was back in the clearing where this game of cat and mouse had started. Sitting down back to back on the rock were the two she was chasing all this time, staring at her with a hopeful expression. Jumping down in perfect unison the two walked over to her and each held out a hand to her.

"I guess we should learn to follow our own advice huh?" she said amused, accepting the help up.

They both smiled and to Red's great surprise each began to glow a beautiful red light before dissolving into rose petals in front of her.

"Thanks guys," she said watching the petals fly away, a grateful smile on her face.

* * *

**Ok I know some people might be angry at how easy Yang went down but you need to realise that Red designed that weapon to deal with Yang specifically and no matter how strong you are if you go up against something designed to stop chances are you're going to lose. Also God damn it RT you couldn't have released that episode last week before I decided on what the modification would be I originally wanted to make it so she could electrocute anything she touched but decided there was no way dust would work with clothes. Anyway rant done hope you all like the new chapter the next one will be the end of this arc. **


	16. Sisters

**Hey guys I'm sorry to say this will be my last update for awhile, I have my first serious case of writer's block. I don't want to start volume two yet because it's still ongoing and instead I want to do another non canon arc but right now I only have half formed ideas so unfortunately it will be a while. Anyway I hope you all like the conclusion to my first non canon arc.**

**I don't own RWBY if I did I wouldn't have to think up things for the disclaimer. **

* * *

Team RWBY and JNPR were gathered around their table listening to the retelling of the recent mission as they attempted to eat. Unfortunately they were so captivated by the story that most of their food was cold long before they finished it, even the stoic Ren had an interested expression on his face as they listened.

"Wow she was able to take down both Blake and Yang!" exclaimed Jaune in admiration.

"She caught us by surprise and we underestimated her," defended Blake.

"Don't forget the headmaster originally wanted to send you after her, how do you think that would have gone Vomit Boy?" commented Yang.

Jaune paled at this and even Pyrrha and Ren looked a bit uncomfortable, Nora in contrast began jumping up and down on her chair.

"That would have been awesome I've never fought Ruby before, hey Ren we should ask Ozpin to let us fight her it'll be fun!" said the excitable ginger.

"Nora you're scaring Jaune," sighed Ren pointing to the blonde knight, who looked ready to faint at the thought.

"Trust me Nora you do not want to be on the receiving end of that scythe," shuddered Blake to which Yang nodded, both remembering the pain from the shock.

"Still what could have happened to her to make Ruby want to kill someone?" asked Pyrrha concerned.

"Apparently Roman made some kind of deal with her so she'd work for him," replied Blake.

"What could he have promised that would be worth so much to her that she'd kill to get it?" wondered Pyrrha disturbed.

"I don't think she was serious about that," answered Jaune.

As everyone turned to look at him confused he continued, "Think about it she could have killed Tukson by shooting him instead of close up, all that does is provide more chances for him to escape. Secondly she could have killed Blake while she was unconscious and she didn't even bother chasing after Tukson once he got away. That's not something that you would do if you seriously wanted to kill someone."

"I think there's more to it than that Jaune," replied Blake.

"She could have just not wanted to attract attention, Crescent Rose is quite loud after all," suggested Weiss.

"Okay so what about sparing Blake and abandoning her target," he argued back.

"She was probably on a time constraint, it's quite common for assassins to have a set time frame to get in and out of a location," informed Blake.

"Jaune I know you don't want to believe it, neither do I after she helped us, but I think we need to accept that there is more to her than meets the eye," consoled Pyrrha.

"I guess," came Jaune's weak reply.

"That's only the tip of the iceberg, the interrogation with her and Ozpin was very enlightening," said Weiss in an uncharacteristic eager voice.

Yang gritted her teeth as Weiss began to retell team JNPR of the interrogation to the exact detail, 'damn it Weiss that was meant to stay between us.' As Weiss finished her story the members of JNPR looked at her with mixed expression of shock and sadness, Nora was actually still and quiet as they listened.

"I almost feel sorry for her despite everything she's done," said Pyrrha.

The rest of her team nodded, "can you imagine what it must be like?" asked Jaune staring down at the untouched food on his plate. "To wake up every morning and see someone else in the mirror staring back at you? To be taken from your home with no way of getting back? To not be able to remember your family or even your own name and worse of all, to know that you've forgotten?" he muttered depressed.

There was silence as they all digested his words, Yang played with her food thinking back to the sobbing girl she saw in the interrogation. She jumped as she felt someone place a hand on her shoulder spinning around the blonde saw Blake looking at her concerned.

"You okay Yang you've been awfully quiet for a while now," she asked.

"Yeah you knew Ruby best what do you think of the situation?" asked a curious Weiss causing everyone to stare at Yang.

Yang frowned, "What do I think? I think you should all stop talking about something none of you know anything about!" she hissed as she gave them all an evil glare before getting up to leave the cafeteria.

_Tell me Miss Xiao Long, what makes a person who they are?_ Yang frowned, 'I don't know the answer Ozpin, but I think I'm beginning to understand the question.' Walking down the halls of Beacon she made her way to a specific room before knocking.

* * *

Cardin and his team were enjoying a nice relaxing afternoon just playing games on their scrolls and watching TV when a knock came at the door. Dove walked up to the door ready to give whoever it was a piece of his mind for disturbing them when he immediately slammed the door shut again, locking all the locks and ran under the bed. The rest of CRDL looked at each other daring one of them to check it out as the knocking grew louder, eventually they settled on paper scissors rock to decide their fate. Sky was chosen first and like Dove he shut the door, screaming in terror, "she's here," before jumping out the three story window. Cardin and Russel glanced at each with confusion and no small amount of fear as the knocking evolved into loud banging.

"Cardin Winchester, get your ass out here before I get angry," called a familiar voice.

Cardin and Russel became pale as they recognized the voice, "Oh shit it's her okay don't panic we practised for this guys, commence plan Y-Wing," he yelled before they began barricading the door with anything and everything they could find, beds, chairs even tables were dragged in front of the door. They high fived upon seeing the completion of the masterpiece, until they heard the bangs turn into pounds and the barricade began to shake. They both looked at each other before pushing themselves up against the door.

"Okay time for the backup plan. Hold the barricade damn it! If she gets in we're screwed!" he ordered his remaining team-mates as Dove rushed in to help.

"Damn it Cardin! Let me in!" Yang roared as the door shook once again, the outline of it beginning to glow and flames starting to spread into the room.

"GO BACK TO THE ABYISS!" Cardin bellowed at her causing the flames to grow bigger and hotter.

"Crap! Dove grab the fire extinguisher we'll hold the door!" he said.

"Cardin I just want to talk," she explained.

"YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" he shouted ignoring her.

The door began cracking under the brawlers continued assault, "Cardin we can't hold out for much longer," informed Russel fearfully.

"Alright we've got no choice I'll hold the door as long as possible you guys get out of here," sighed Cardin.

Dove and Russel looked at each other conflicted until Cardin yelled at them, "FLY YOU FOOLS!" They nodded giving him a salute, tears in their eyes before following Sky out the window.

Cardin braced himself as the door stopped shaking and the sound of the pounding ceased, "Cardin I'm being serious here I just want to talk to you about our little red friend that's all, please just open the door," begged Yang.

He frowned, Yang Xiao Long never begs she just takes what she wants from anyone often by force. Taking a deep breath he began removing the remnants of the barricade from the door and unlocked the door.

"Alright Blondie, I'll let you in but no funny businesses," he said opening the door before taking a seat, making sure to keep his mace close at hand.

* * *

Yang walked into team CRDL's dorm with an expression of shock on her face, the room looked worse than her's the time she'd tried cooking. Furniture was scattered everywhere, most of it burnt, and fire extinguisher foam made it look like it had snowed inside and finally the outside window was shattered.

"Um… what happened here?" she asked Cardin who was sitting on one of the few intact chairs.

"You did," he replied simply with raised eyebrows.

"Oh right um… really sorry about that," she said rubbing the back of her neck.

"Just say what you want to say and go already, my team and I need to clean up your mess," he growled.

Yang suppressed a surge of anger and took a seat on one of the beds, "I know you helped her get out of Beacon that day, I want to know why," she explained.

Cardin leaned back in his chair his eyes boring into her's, "do I need a reason to help a friend?" he asked in return.

Yang blinked, 'ok not the answer I was expecting,' she thought confused. Running her fingers through her hair she walked over to the broken window, staring out as the sun began to set in the distance.

"Ok so how did you become friends then?" asked Yang as she leaned against the wall, turning back to face him.

Cardin looked at Yang, sighing as he clasped his hands behind his head, "how much did she tell you about the Forever Fall incident?"

Yang frowned, "just that the two of you had to fight an Ursa major and that you had to stay the night in a cave," she replied thinking back.

Cardin nodded, "while we were in the cave I asked her why she saved me and you know what she said, 'she'd screwed someone over and decided to live out their dreams for them,' a 15 year old said that Yang. Can you imagine the burden she's carrying?"

Cardin got up from his chair and pulled something out of his draw, "next thing I know she's singing, you should have heard her it was full of grief and sadness but also hope," he continued, staring at the object in his hand.

Yang looked at him in confusion as he made his way over to her, "and you know what? Despite all her suffering she decided to help me more than anyone had before, she even covered for me when we went to see Ozpin. So I decided then and there that if she ever needed it she had my help."

Yang shook her head in disbelief, "alright how would you describe her then?" she asked.

Cardin sat back down thinking, "If I was to describe her then she would be like a fae from the old tales, mischievous and fun with her friends but cunning and ruthless to her enemies, but despite this she has a good heart and is fiercely protective of those she cares for," he concluded.

"I see thanks for your time Cardin I appreciate it," she said making her way to the door.

"Yang wait!" called Cardin getting up, causing her to spin around.

Walking over to her he took a deep breath, "look I don't know what's going on between you two but listen no fight is worth losing your sibling over, trust me I learnt that the hard way," he said giving the object in his hand one last look before putting it on the desk.

She nodded and left the room her thoughts focused on what Cardin had said and most importantly his expression as he looked at the object, it was a picture of a happy family.

* * *

Red yawned from her recent nap and tried to grab the now cold mug of coffee but it was just out of her reach thanks to the damn handcuffs, 'he probably put it there on purpose the bastard,' she thought angrily. Giving up she was about to return to her attempts to break the cuffs when the door opened. Looking up Red immediately jumped to her feet only to be yanked back down by the cuffs.

"You here to gloat?" she asked unimpressed.

Yang didn't respond and instead took the seat across from Red, placing a tray of cookies on the table she just looked at her. Seeing no indication either way from Yang and her aura giving no warnings she cautiously reached for a cookie. Keeping an eye on the brawler at all times Red quickly grabbed a cookie, sniffed it a couple of times before eating it. After waiting a few minutes with no ill effects Red began grabbing them by the truckload and in the space of five minutes the entire tray was gone. Throughout it all Yang said nothing just watching her with an expression she'd never seen before.

"Um… so how much of the dorms did you break to make these," she joked, attempting to provoke a response from the blonde.

Again Yang said nothing and just watched her causing Red to flinch under her gaze. 'Ok this is getting kind of creepy,' she thought her hand stroking her neck.

"Why do you do that?" asked Yang.

Red jumped, "do what?" she asked confused.

"Clutch your neck like that, you did the same thing when we met before," responded the blonde.

Red just glared at her before taking her cloak off revealing long burn marks along her neck. Yang frowned and looked away upon seeing them, recognizing the cause. Red gave a dark chuckle as she replaced her cloak.

"You think that's bad huh? That's after my aura healed them, it was a lot worse when I first got them that's for sure," she said wincing slightly, a guilty look crossing Yang's face at this.

"So… how's Ember Celica doing? It looked like Crescent Rose did quite a number on it," asked Red hoping to lighten up the atmosphere.

"Still broken I haven't been able to fix it yet," came the gruff reply, dashing Red's hopes on the rocks.

Red just sighed, "Alright Yang why don't you tell me why you're here, I doubt it was just a social visit."

Yang nodded, "Weiss told me what you did, at first I thought she was lying but then I saw the footage. You dived in front of a truck to save me, why?" she asked confused.

Red looked up at the ceiling frowning, "I don't know I wasn't thinking at the time, I just saw you in danger and my body moved by itself," she finished shrugging.

The brawler looked at her with a conflicted expression before sighing, "I spoke to Cardin he seems to think pretty highly of you," she said causing Red to focus on her. "Which means that you wouldn't work with Roman for money. So why did you?"

'So that's it,' thought Red sighing.

"It doesn't matter I lost anyway," she muttered depressed.

"Winning isn't everything," replied the brawler.

"It's just the only thing that matters," shot back Red.

"True but sometimes you have to ask yourself, was it worth it?" said Yang.

Red looked at her in surprise before a thoughtful expression crossed her face. The silence between them grew until she took a deep breath at looked up at Yang.

"Yang do you remember the time you, Ruby and Qrow burnt down Summer's home?" she asked getting a confused nod from the blonde.

"Tell me if you could see it again and relive the happy memories you made there would you? And if so what would you be willing to pay?" she said looking Yang in the eye.

For her part the brawler just looked at her in surprise before her face contorted into a look of concentration. Eventually she just sighed, "I don't know, I don't think anyone could know until they're presented with that choice."

Red stared at her hands as she folded her arms over the table, "Roman promised me that he'd help me go back home to Earth if I worked for him. Funny isn't it, all it took to get me on his side was a meaningless promise he likely never planned to fulfil," she muttered darkly.

Yang was silent as she digested this new information before she got up and headed for the door, turning to face Red as she left, "the desire to see home again isn't meaningless, it's one of the things that makes us human."

Red looked up in confusion as the door shut, leaving her alone with her thoughts, 'what was that about?' she wondered.

* * *

As Yang left the interrogation room she heard clapping coming from behind her, turning around she found herself staring at headmaster Ozpin whom was walking out from the observation room.

"That was a most impressive performance Miss Xiao Long," he said.

"And it was meant to be private, how long were you there for?" she asked clamping down on her rising temper.

"Since the start," he admitted shamelessly.

Seeing her enraged face he continued, "Did you really think I'd leave Miss Rose's room unmonitored, especially with someone who has shown to have a vendetta against her?" asked Ozpin glaring at her.

He dropped he glare quickly however and it was replaced with a smile, "still I am impressed with the way you handled that, thanks to you we have finally made some progress with Miss Rose."

"What are you going to do with her?" she asked neutrally.

Ozpin looked back to the interrogation room, "I'm going to talk to her see if I can change her mind and help her. Now that we know her motive it's clear she is no danger to the students," informed Ozpin.

"Although I am curious," he said turning back to Yang. "What brought about this sudden change in attitude?"

She frowned, "I've been thinking about what you told me in your office that day, about what makes a person who they are," she explained.

"Oh," Ozpin smiled, "and what have you found?" he asked raising his eyebrows.

Yang looked back at the room, "That you could spend a whole life time trying to solve that question and still not get any closer to the answer. There is no one thing that defines a person, the thing that makes them who they are is simply themselves," she explained.

"So then, how do you tell what a person is like?" queried Ozpin giving her his full attention.

"You talk to them, you talk to their friends, you find out anything you can about them and after that… you trust your heart to know what to do," she replied walking away.

Ozpin watched her as she left, "you really are her child aren't you Yang Xiao Long," he whispered before walking into the interrogation room.

* * *

To say Red had been surprised by the current events would be a lie, she wasn't surprised she was stunned. First none other than Yang Xiao Long had come to visit her and instead of beating her up she'd given her cookies and they'd just talked. Next Ozpin had showed up and began another question session with her before offering to let her back into Beacon in exchange that he'd be keeping an eye on her. Now she was walking to the cafeteria to get food as if nothing had ever happened, 'how do I get myself into these situations?' she wondered. As she arrived Red heard the cafeteria go silent and felt everyone's eyes fall upon her. Heading to the counter she grabbed a plate of cookies and headed off to a small table by the corner, sighing as she heard whispers and ducking under a piece of fruit thrown at her.

Glaring at the offender she placed her tray on the table and semblanced in front of the student with scythe in hand, "hey do you know why Crescent Rose is red? Here's a clue it's not paint," she said giving him an innocent smile before walking off.

Sitting down she caught sight of team RWBY and JNPR watching her carefully from across the room, even Jaune had a fearful expression on his face.

"Welcome to Beacon," she muttered.

"Damn Red was that really necessary?" came a voice from in front of her.

Looking up Red smiled, "necessary no, fun yes."

Cardin gave a bark of laughter, "so these seats taken?" he asked.

"I don't know I am kind of popular right now," she said rolling her eyes.

Giving a snort Cardin and his team took their seats around the table and began arguing about teachers and the recent assignments. Throughout it all Red stayed silent as she listened to the growing banter with a smile on her face, maybe things weren't so bad after all.

* * *

"Um… guys we might have problem here," said Jaune fearfully pointing to the entrance.

Everyone turned to look and instantly began unknowingly reaching for their missing weapons, there casually strolling into the cafeteria was Ruby Rose. All of them watched as she began grabbing food, the entire room silent.

"Wow I don't think I've ever seen the place this quiet," whispered Yang amazed.

"Well she did take you down and she worked for Roman, I'm not surprised everyone's scared of her," commented Weiss.

"True… wait we were told to keep that a secret, so how did everyone find out," realized Yang.

They all turned to look at JNPR's resident ginger, "Nora did you tell anyone?" asked Ren.

Nora blinked, "silly Ren I wouldn't do that, I just walked down the halls wondering about it."

"Nora, you think out loud," groaned Ren face palming.

Turning back they watched Ruby dodge some thrown food before glaring at the culprit as she placed her food down. Instead of eating her food she disappeared and reappeared in front of the student with Crescent Rose unleashed. After she terrorized the poor student Jaune looked ready to live up to his nickname as they watched her sit down at the table, briefly catching their stare. Yang frowned as she saw her give a depressed expression before beginning to eat the cookies in her corner.

"I sort of feel sorry for her," admitted Yang much to the shock of her friends.

"Yang she brought this on herself," reasoned Blake.

"Did she? I'm the one who drove her out of Beacon after all," replied the blonde.

"You didn't cause her to join that criminal Yang, she had a choice and she sold us out for money," argued Weiss.

Yang frowned and said nothing as she just watched team CRDL approach her and for the first time Yang saw a real smile on her face, a Ruby smile, 'a fae huh?' Picking up her plate she turned to her team-mates, "come on let's go I've lost my appetite."

They arrived at the dorm and got changed into their causal clothes as Yang brought out the two gauntlets of Ember Celica, one blackened and damaged while the other was shining a brilliant gold.

Blake looked at them frowning, "why haven't you gotten them fixed yet Yang? We have Combat classes tomorrow."

"I can't these were custom made for me, even I don't know all the mechanics behind them," she replied sadly.

"So what are you going to do about Combat classes?" asked Weiss.

Yang shook her head, "I don't know, I guess I'll just fight bear handed," she said.

"I could fix it."

* * *

"This is it just go in there don't make eye contact and go to sleep, easy," she said psyching herself up.

Taking a deep breath opened the door to team RWBY's dorm and to her confusion saw them all crowding around Yang. Quietly closing the door behind her she climbed up to Fort Ruby and sat down watching them as they examined Ember Celica, 'what's going on?' she thought in confusion.

"Why haven't you gotten them fixed yet Yang? We have Combat classes tomorrow," asked the Faunus.

"I can't these were custom made for me, even I don't know all the mechanics behind them," responded Yang.

'You would if you'd actually bothered to try instead of letting me… I mean Ruby do all the work,' Red thought grinning.

Weiss looked up at Yang, "so what are you going to do about Combat classes?"

"I don't know, I guess I'll just fight bear handed," she said with a shake of her head.

"I could fix it," Red said meekly.

All of them jumped at the sound of her voice, spinning around they began reaching for their weapons. Seeing this Red grabbed Crescent Rose and jumped down from the bed getting into a combat stance.

"All of you stop!" shouted Yang, causing everyone to lower their weapons. The blonde turned to Red, "what are you doing here?" she asked.

Red sheathed the scythe and met her gaze, "I sleep here remember, apparently Ozpin still thinks I'm part of the team," she answered shrugging.

Weiss and Blake looked at each other clearly uncomfortable with the situation while Yang just nodded.

"What were you saying before?" she asked.

"I said I could fix it for you," sighed Red.

Yang looked at her confused, "is this an apology?" she asked.

Red just shrugged, "that depends, is it working?"

A brief smile crossed Yang's face, "it might be," she replied handing Ember Celica over to Red before turning to her team-mates. "Come on let's go relax we have the rest of the day free after all," she said jumping onto her own bed. Weiss and Blake just looked between the two wondering what had just happened.

* * *

Red sighed as she sat down for Combat class noticing a visible ring of empty seats around her, 'well I guess I know what people think of me, no one will disturb me at least.' She placed her hood over her head and was about to get some sleep when she was startled by a voice in her ear.

"Well Miss Rose since you seem to think that this is a waste of time you can go first," ordered a very angry Goodwitch.

Red jumped and came face to face with the professor whom just ordered her onto the stage. She didn't bother arguing and just sighed again as she trudged up to the stage, ignoring the snickers from the crowd.

"Alright now who wants to volunteer as Miss Rose's sparring partner?" asked Goodwitch.

Immediately the snickers stopped and the room became silent with not one person stepping forward, thanks to team JNPR holding Nora back. Red gave an amused smirk, 'looks like my reputation precedes me.'

"If no one volunteers I will be forced to pick someone," threatened the professor.

"I'll do it," came a familiar voice.

Red gripped her scythe tighter as Yang walked on to the stage with Ember Celica. The professor nodded and walked of the stage, directing everyone to a safe distance. They both got into their stances as the timer and aura levels appeared on the screen.

"So was this your plan all along?" she asked the blonde.

"Actually no I just saw an opportunity and I took it," replied Yang.

Red frowned, "an opportunity to do what?" she asked confused.

Yang didn't break eye contact, "it's a great irony that the nature of combat always reveals the true nature of those who fight, I'm hoping you don't disappoint me" she replied as the timer reached zero.

Not waiting for Red to take the initiative Yang launched round after round at her, forcing Red to focus on dodging instead of attacking. Seeing the shots were ineffective Yang charged Red whom had to use her scythe as a staff as she blocked blow after blow from the brawler. The dance between them continued until Yang overextended herself with a punch creating an opening for Red. Slamming the scythe blade into the ground she spun around using her momentum along with aura infused muscles to send Yang flying into the wall. Wasting no time she fired the entire clip into the stunned blonde, creating large cracks in the wall. However Red was unprepared for Yang to burst out of the wall with red eyes and flaming hair, as she rapidly closed the distance between them. Snapping out of her stunned daze and unable to reload fast enough Red semblanced out of the way and appeared behind Yang, hitting her with an overhead slash from Crescent Rose. She quickly darted away as Yang threw a punch in retaliation, Red was shocked to see the one punch destroy part of the stage, 'what's going on that was stronger than all the other attacks earlier.' Diving out of the way of another punch Red felt something grab her cloak before she was slammed into the ground, causing her vision to go blurry for a couple of seconds. Unfortunately these couple of seconds were all that Yang needed as she picked up Red and threw her across the stage into the wall.

"You noticed huh?" commented Yang as she approached, her hair getting brighter by the second.

Red coughed as she struggled to her feet, "your punches are getting stronger the more I hit you," she observed.

Yang nodded looking impressed, "did you know there are many different forms of energy, and the force behind a blow is kinetic energy. So you tell me how am I getting stronger?" she quizzed.

A look of understanding crossed Red's face as she gripped Crescent Rose tighter, "you can absorb some of the kinetic energy behind your opponent's hits and use it to power yourself up. Your flames aren't your semblance they're just a by-product of the process as your body quite literally burns off the excess energy that it has stored up from previous fights as heat and light energy. Essentially with each hit you get stronger and you use that energy to fight back," answered Red.

Yang's eyes widened in surprise and she began clapping, "impressive you even figured out how my flames and hair work but now I think it's time for both of us to stop holding back," she said her fists slamming together.

Red gasped as the flames surrounding Yang disappeared and her hair began to glow brighter than the sun. Acting quickly Red charged the brawler attempting to use her superior speed to catch the blonde by surprise, only to have Yang grab her head.

"I told you to stop holding back and I was serious, or are you really just this weak," taunted Yang before punching her in the gut and dropping her on the ground.

"Pathetic, you expect to be able to go home with this kind of strength? Such a disappointment, I wonder what your family would say if they saw you now," scoffed the blonde walking away.

* * *

"Um… don't you think Yang's taking this too far," said Jaune concerned.

"Indeed she was already in the red before Yang did that, she's already won the fight," agreed Ren.

"Why isn't the professor stopping this?" questioned Blake.

All of them nodded in agreement as they watched Yang proceed to beat up her opponent, all of them even Weiss feeling sympathy for the poor girl. Their jaw dropped however as they watched Ruby slowly stagger up and grab Crescent Rose, her body beginning to glow a very dark red instead of the bright vibrant shade they were used to.

"H-How is she standing she barely has enough aura to move," stuttered Pyrrha in shock.

"P-Pyrrha look at her aura levels," said Jaune.

They all looked up at the screen and for the second time in the space of five minutes their jaws hit the floor.

"T-That's not possible," choked out Weiss.

The entire classroom was silent as they watched the screen unable to comprehend what they were seeing, Ruby's aura was increasing at a rapid rate, and already it was back up to yellow.

"There's no way, aura can't regenerate that fast," said Pyrrha.

They watched as Ruby began to steady herself on her scythe and Yang turned around to face her a pleased look on her face, a sharp contrast to the look of rage on Ruby's. Then all hell broke loose.

* * *

"… I wonder what your family would say if they saw you now."

Red was angry, no she wasn't angry she was fucking furious. 'I'm going to make her pay,' she thought as she struggled to get up. 'Come on move god damnit move!' her body aching in protest. Swaying she slowly picked herself up from the ground and grabbed Crescent Rose as the pain began to fade. Grasping the scythe she walked over to Yang, dragging the blade along the floor. Hearing the noise the blonde turned to look back at her with a pleased grin.

"See I knew you could do it, now let's start the real fight," she cheered.

Red didn't respond and just snarled at her, disappearing in a flash of rose petals. In the space of a few seconds Red grabbed Yang's hair and yanking down on it hard before head butting the blonde in the forehead followed by a kick into the stomach and the firing of Crescent Rose at point blank range. Each blow was accompanied by a flash of red as her aura empowered the hit, causing Yang to stagger. The blonde wasn't stunned for long though as she grabbed the scythe as it was coming in for another swing, seeing this Red activated the electricity trap expecting to see her scream in pain like last time. Instead she got a painful punch to the face as Yang retaliated. Recovering quickly Red looked at her scythe wondering what went wrong, Yang just smiled.

* * *

"What the hell was that!" exclaimed Jaune in shock.

"Ruby's ace up her sleeve, she modified Crescent Rose to electrocute anyone who touches it. Worst of all it can travel down your weapon, that's how she beat me and Yang," explained Blake.

"I didn't know dust could do that," remarked Ren impressed.

"That's because it can't," replied the heiress. Seeing their confused expression she elaborated, "yellow dust utilizes the power of lightning, it is one of the most powerful of all dust types but also one of the most unstable."

She paused to look at Ruby before continuing, "Somehow she's managed to stabilize it so that she could control the output and recognize her aura as friendly, something the Schnee family has failed to do for years," she said with barely concealed envy.

"So then why didn't it work?" asked Jaune curious.

Weiss turned to Jaune in surprise, "you really can't figure it out? You dolt, fine I'll explain it for you then," she grumbled turning back to watch the fight.

* * *

"Hey did you know what our practice rounds are made of?" asked Yang still smirking.

Red looked up from her scythe understanding dawning in her eyes, "rubber rounds, you really did think of everything," she grudgingly admitted.

Yang nodded before wiping sweat from her eyes, "I don't have much left and you're barely staying up right, what do you say we finish this with one final attack?" she offered.

"Fine it's your funeral," growled Red getting up.

Yang's face immediately became serious and her hair glowing so bright it was almost blinding, her body wreathed in the yellow glow of her aura and a pillar of flames erupting around her. Red reactivated her scythe as a massive sphere of crackling blue electricity surrounded her. Inside the blue sphere the students saw a red light growing brighter by the second. Yang looked briefly surprised before smiling as the two began charging at the other and thus the two unstoppable forces collided with one another. The yellow fiery sun met the deceptively calming blue-red storm with a flash of blinding light, the TV and lights shattering and the students being blown off their feet. The light pulsed as each force tried to overcome the other until finally it died down and the students looked up to see Yang standing over her opponent panting.

"Cardin wasn't… lying you… really are fiercely… protective," she panted. Looking down at her unconscious form Yang smiled, "congratulations you pass."

* * *

The fight was all the school talked about for over a week and quite frankly Yang was getting sick of it. Since everyone had decided that Yang was safer than her counterpart she was pestered by many 'adoring fans.' Yang smiled at the irony of the situation people were coming to her because she was the safer of the two now, 'if this was how Ruby felt she has my sympathy.' Yang heard the sound of running coming down from the halls, spinning around she saw a worried Blake approaching her.

"Yang we got a problem Ruby's missing! She left her scroll on the bed and hasn't shown up for any classes," she said exhausted.

Yang frowned, sure she wasn't as welcomed here as others but she wouldn't run away again, would she? Her eyes widened, 'wait a minute how could I forget! Today is the anniversary,' she realized.

"Don't worry Blake I think I know where she is," she assured the Faunus before running down to the docks.

* * *

Red walked into the clearing as snow began falling as she approached the cliff, a bouquet of roses in her hands. Slowly she knelt before the grave and placed the roses in front of the tombstone, getting up she just stared at the grave not really sure what to do.

"Um… hi I know you probably don't know me but I wanted to see you, my name is… well I guess you can just call me Red," she introduced awkwardly.

Taking a deep breath she continued tears forming around her eyes, "I'v - I've done some terrible things and I don't think I'll ever be able to completely wash the blood off my hands."

Red fell down to the ground sobbing, "I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry for everything. I never wanted any of this I swear, I just wanted to go home," she whimpered.

Red felt someone embrace her from behind, "you know they say that home is where the heart is," soothed a familiar voice.

Red didn't try to break free from the hug and instead cried into Yang's shoulder, the blonde just stroked her hair, "it's okay just let it out," she comforted.

Eventually the tears stopped and Yang let go of Red and made her way over to the grave noting the flowers, "roses were always her favourite," she said approvingly.

"We used to make this trip every year you know, Ruby was the one who suggested it. Then things started getting busy and we had to stop coming. But Ruby never stopped every birthday, every anniversary she would come here and tell her all about it, every time she had a problem she'd come here to ask for help," explained Yang not looking up from the grave.

Red joined her as they stared at the grave in silence, broken only by the rustling of leaves in the wind, "I'm sorry for everything I've done to you especially for what I said earlier, you didn't deserve it," apologized Yang.

Red flinched, "no you were right my family would be horrified by what I've done, I've killed Yang, KILLED!," she choked out holding back the tears.

Yang threw an arm around Red's shoulder, "So? Your past doesn't define who you are, it just gives you the starting point for who you're going to be," consoled the blonde.

The brawler gave her a smile, "listen I should have said this a long time ago, welcome to the family Ruby Rose."

Red froze and looked up at the smiling blonde, "are… are you sure?" she asked in disbelief.

Yang nodded, "only Ruby would do something like this and whether I like it or not she lives on inside you, I've seen it."

The blonde turned back to the grave, "besides I think this is what she'd want."

Red was shocked and looked at Yang as the snow continued to fall and the wind began picking up, the older sibling smiled and grabbed her hand.

"Come on sis we'd better get back we don't want Ozpin getting worried now do we," she said dragging a stunned Red.

"Thanks… sis," replied Red unable to keep tears back any longer.

As the two walked away nether noticed a white cloaked figure near the grave watching them, smiling the figure began to dissolved into thin air leaving not a trace behind.

* * *

**Well how did you like it? I decided to send the arc out with a Yang! (I'm sorry I couldn't help it). Also I pretty much promised you all Yang vs Red battle and I keep my promises besides that last one was a bit anti-climatic. Also out of curiosity what has been your favourite chapter so far and why? For me it was a toss up between this one (I loved writing Yang as the Balrog) and chapter 9 with Cardin and Red. It's weird I actually hate Cardin in the show but I really enjoy writing him in the story... go figure huh.**


	17. The King, The Queen and the Pawn

**Hey guys so thankfully an idea I was tossing around before I started the first non canon arc has finally begun to take shape (also this will probably be the last non canon arc before season 2). A special thanks to Tommy 2486 for helping me iron out the idea and for being a beta for this chapter.**

**StormFire: Glad to hear it, that means I must be doing something right at least.**

**I don't own RWBY as much as I'd want to.**

* * *

It was a darkened room where each party was meeting, both had agreed that the less through traffic the better. Roman sighed as he stood there waiting with two henchmen for his new potential business partners. They were 20 minutes late and it was starting to piss him off, 'well they definitely have the arrogance now we just have to hope they have the power to back it up.' Suddenly the sound of the door opening snapped him out of his thoughts, his henchman immediately drew their weapons on the door, only to fall to the ground with holes in their chests.

"You know that wasn't very nice, I paid good money to Junior for those two," he said amused.

"You were going to kill them anyway after this meeting, I was just saving you the effort," replied the heavily armoured figure as it strolled into the room.

"True," conceded Roman as they took their seats.

"So," began the figure, "I've been told you want access to our products, the question is what can you offer us?"

Roman nodded, "we have lots of manpower, vehicles, influence, multiple android models and more dust then we know what to do with. Take your pick," he said smugly.

The figure leaned over the table, "my organization is willing to work with you but first you need to do something for us."

"Oh," said Roman surprised, "and what might that be?"

The figured took out a photograph and handed it to Roman, "we want her," it stated.

He looked down at it and his eyes narrowed, "why do you want her?" he asked, suspicious.

The figure took back the photo and leaned back into his chair, "that doesn't concern you Roman. You get her for us and my superiors and I can guarantee that we will share a long and profitable business relationship."

Roman raised his eyebrows, "very well how do we contact you when we have her?" he asked.

The figure got up, "don't worry Roman once you have her we'll contact you," it reassured him.

Roman watched as the figure left the building a frown on his face, he had been in this game for a long time and knew when he was getting a raw deal. Still Cinder said to get their support so he had no choice in the matter, but why ask for her, no scratch that, how did they even know about her? He sighed, looked like the only way to answer this question was to ask her himself.

"Well Little Red looks like we'll be seeing each other again real soon," he muttered.

* * *

"Checkmate," said Red smirking.

The poor student looked devastated as he placed his lien in the hat and moved back onto the growing sea of people. Cardin grinned and stood up on the table while Red reset the chess board.

"Come one come all, test your skill against the Red Reaper of Beacon. Win a single game against Red here and you'll get everything in the hat. The total is now up to 500 lien, imagine what you could buy with that kind of money. Price for a game is 5 lien, for three games it's 10, a bargain that you would have to be mad not to take advantage of," he shouted.

"How do we know you're not cheating?" demanded another student.

"Because this is chess, there is no chance involved in the game, it is impossible to cheat," explained a smug Red.

"That is correct Miss Rose but I would like to know why you and Mister Winchester here have decided to start up this stall. Surely you are aware that gambling for money is not allowed here at Beacon," came an amused voice.

The crowd of students split as Ozpin walked over to the two of them, sipping his coffee as he stood in front of them. Cardin had a panicked look on his face while Red just calmly staring back at the headmaster grinning.

"Well headmaster the purpose of Beacon is to educate the students correct? We are merely helping our peers by teaching them a very valuable lesson," she replied.

"Oh and what might that be?" asked Ozpin intrigued.

"Simple, is the risk worth the reward? After all it is our job, no our duty, as team leaders to educate our fellow students of this, is it not? If they don't learn this people could die and the only way we could think of getting this message to stick was by taking things from them, specifically money," lied Red.

"True, well then let's see how well you've learnt that lesson shall we?" he challenged, a small grin on his face as he sat in the empty chair.

"What do you mean?" she said, suspicious.

"A simple game of chess. If you win I'll let you two continue this stall, but if I win you have to donate the money to the school's new construction project, deal?" he offered holding out his hand.

Red frowned looking at his hand, 'he knows about my aura, Yang told me so. So why is he doing this? Maybe he doesn't know that it works outside of combat.' After debating for a good minute she smiled and shook his hand.

"You've got yourself a deal."

* * *

Yang walked over to her friends as they crowded around the table, "hey you guys seen Ruby anywhere?"

Blake looked over to her as she sat down, "she left the dorms early in the morning and before you ask no I don't know why, I saw her talking to Cardin before they left but haven't seen her since," she said.

Weiss looked up in concern at this, "maybe we should go find her, it doesn't fill me great hope that a criminal is walking around Beacon unsupervised."

Yang looked at her frowning, "Weiss I told you to stop that, she's not as bad as we first thought."

"Ok ok," said the heiress, throwing up her hands, "I'll be nicer but I still don't trust her."

The blonde just sighed and turned to her food, team JNPR looked at each other in concern as the silence grew.

"So… did you guys hear? The schools got a new construction project going on," informed Jaune, trying to break the awkward atmosphere.

"Indeed they're building a proper combat arena out of the old amphitheatre," said Blake.

"Really why? We have a combat room already," asked Yang confused.

"After that room got destroyed twice, by the same people no less, the school decided that instead of repairing it constantly they'd build a proper arena," answered Pyrrha with a smile.

Yang gave a sheepish grin, "well that place was getting cramped anyway."

They all laughed and started eating as more and more people left the cafeteria. Eventually the room became too quiet and they looked around in confusion, the place was nearly deserted and it was lunch time. They watched as someone ran into the cafeteria and quickly grabbed their friends before dragging them out into the hallways.

Yang frowned, "come on guys whatever's attracting everyone has got to be more interesting than lunch," she said.

They all nodded and followed the group of students to the court yard where a large amount of students had surrounded something. A whispered 'oo' and 'ah' could be heard from the crowd as they approached.

"You don't think Ruby has anything to do with this do you?" asked Jaune, concerned.

"Oh please what're the odds of that," dismissed Yang with a wave of her hand.

* * *

The game had been going for an hour and Red could honestly say that without her aura she would have lost within the first five minutes. Even with her aura she was only just able to hold Ozpin off as each assault became worse and worse. 'Damn it! How is he doing this? I should have beaten him by now,' she thought, sweat dripping down the back of her neck.

"Tell me Miss Rose, why do you think the King, the objective of the game, is the most impotent piece on the board?" he asked snapping her out of her thoughts.

Red frowned as she moved her Rook to take his Bishop, "it's so you keep him safe and don't charge him ahead like most do with the Queen," she replied.

"That is one answer," nodded Ozpin.

"In a sense the King in chess is like the king in life, his existence is depends on keeping his forces intact and his people on his side. He is a hostage to his people's continued happiness," he concluded, taking her Knight with his own.

Red ran her fingers through her hair, the first signs of stress beginning to appear, 'I needed that piece! What is going on? I'm listening to my aura but it's not working,' she thought frustrated as he took another piece.

"What is your favourite piece Miss Rose?" he said staring at her.

Confused she leaned back into her chair, "the Queen," she replied, taking his Knight.

Ozpin smiled, "Interesting and why is that?" he asked.

Red shrugged, "it's the most powerful piece, and whoever loses their Queen first usually loses the game because of it."

"I see, so you value it for its power and practicality," he commented amused before taking her Pawn with his Queen.

Red's eyes bulged and she spent the next 10 minutes trying to figure out the trap, finding none she looked back to him. "Why would you waste your Queen on a lowly Pawn?" she asked confused as she took his Queen.

"Do you know what my favourite piece is Miss Rose?" asked Ozpin, ignoring her while he began attacking with his Rook.

"No headmaster I don't," she answered with a shake of her head, while blocking off his Rook with her own.

"My favourite is the Pawn," he answered taking a sip from his now cold coffee.

Red raised her eyebrows in surprise, "but headmaster Pawns are-"

"Weak, small and often exchanged for little to no tactical gain," interrupted the headmaster.

"Well… yeah so why pick them?" she asked confused.

Ozpin picked up one said piece and held it out in front of him smiling, "because they have no real power and instead have to rely on nothing but their own determination and unswerving loyalty."

Placing the piece back on the board he moved it forward, "is it not strange how often, in the latter stages of the game, the King finds himself abandoned by his Queen, his religious advisors, his castles and his knights, yet defended by a few loyal Pawns?" he asked rhetorically as Red took his last Bishop.

"The humble Pawn is often forgotten, mistreated and regularly sacrificed in pursuit of strategies of which they may not have even been aware, but despite this Pawns somehow always manage to be there at the end game," said the headmaster picking up his Pawn.

"Well Miss Rose I believe this is checkmate," he said moving the piece to the end of the board, turning it into a Queen. "You should never underestimate Pawns they will often surprise you."

Red just stared at the board, unable to comprehend what had just happened, 'how did I lose? I did everything my aura told me to!'

"You look surprised Miss Rose, you see the problem with blindly following your prediction ability is that it makes you yourself predictable," explained Ozpin, getting up from the chair.

"Predictable?" she repeated confused.

He nodded, "you always pick the best option for the current situation on the basis that your opponent will react logically to this choice. But if the opponent knew this they could set up traps in advance knowing how you would react to their every move or in this case act illogically such as throwing a Queen away," elaborated the headmaster.

"No ability is infallible Miss Rose, you would do well to remember that," he said, turning around and walking away the students parting before him.

"Oh and one more thing Miss Rose, I thank you for the generous donation and expect to see you and Mister Winchester in detention with Prof. Goodwitch. Have a pleasant day," he called as he disappeared into the school building.

Red and Cardin looked at each other pale, detention sessions with Prof. Goodwitch had a very bad reputation. 'I think I should start writing a will now,' she thought fearfully.

To this day no one knows what happened to Red and Cardin in detention, only that they both came back to their dorms pale faced and unable to sleep for three nights. Whenever they were asked what had happened an expression of pure horror would cross their faces before they curled up into the fetal position muttering incomprehensible words.

* * *

Weiss was walking down the halls of Beacon when she heard the sound of music coming from the courtyard, her curiosity getting the better of her she followed it to a crowd of cheering students. 'What's going on here?' she thought confused. Her question was answered when she spotted Ruby and Cardin surrounded by numerous instruments, Ruby was on the guitar and Cardin on drums.

…_They see you as small and helpless…_

Her eyes widen in surprise, 'I didn't know Ruby could play guitar, Yang said she knew piano but not guitar,' she thought impressed. Placing the guitar on the stand Ruby waved to the crowd getting another cheer from them, "hope you guys are enjoying yourselves, remember to place some lien in the hat if you'd like to see more."

Smiling Ruby looked out over the crowd, "ok now the next song is going to be a different slower song, it's a song from where I come from," she said much to the crowd's confusion.

'Must be from Earth,' realized Weiss suddenly intrigued as she got closer.

"And I need a volunteer to sing for us, Weiss is that you? Perfect! You can sing right?" exclaimed Ruby upon seeing her.

Weiss froze, she hadn't sung since the incident at White Castle. Still it would be interesting to see what Earth songs are like, shrugging she walked up to the stage and grabbed the mic from Ruby.

"Thanks Weiss here's the lyrics and don't worry you'll get the rhythm fairly easily, just follow the melody," informed Ruby handing her a sheet of paper.

Weiss nodded and Ruby walked over to a nearby keyboard, taking a deep breath the heiress waited until a slowly melody started, immediately quieting the crowd before beginning, hear voice melding with the notes.

_Ruthless winds, Raging seas,_

_Who have stolen my true love_

_Davy Jones of the Seven Seas_

_Oh, bring him back to me..._

_Every day and every night,_

_Locked in darkness, all alone,_

_Many tears, my love, I have shed_

_Hoping you would come._

Weiss nearly jumped in surprise when the slow melody instantly grew to a crescendo of sound as the soft music box notes were replaced by thundering organs.

_Oh, my sweet Davy Jones_

_Time has come for you to return._

_Please come back to me my love,_

_My beloved Davy Jones._

_All these years, oh, my sweet Goddess_

_Bound to sail these wretched seas _

_I have always thought of you,_

_Oh, my dear Calypso._

_Now, when I can step on land_

_And feel the touch of the burning sand,_

_When my path to you is clear_

_I fear my end is near._

The music returned to its slow music box melody and the crowd was silent as they listened, mesmerized by the tune.

_You a Goddess_

_And you a sailor_

_Cursed to be always apart,_

_Yet our love shall last forever_

_Until the end of all..._

The students were quiet as the music died down and Weiss felt a tear run down her face, 'if that is just what the music of Earth is like then their culture must be incredible.' Ruby walked over to her with a smile and dry eyes, much to heiress' amazement.

"That was very well done Weiss, I don't think I've ever heard anyone sing it that well before," she complimented her partner.

The heiress nodded, "thanks… um Ruby when you have free time could you tell me more about Earth?" she asked hopefully.

Ruby looked surprised at this before smiling, "sure thing Ice Queen, but first we need to pack up the equipment, don't won't to get in trouble now do we?"

"I'm afraid it's a bit late for that Miss Rose after all busking on school grounds is forbidden," came a reply.

Ruby and Cardin paled as they stared at something behind her, turning she found herself facing the headmaster.

"It would seem you two are slow learners perhaps another session with Prof. Goodwitch would fix that," he commented.

Ruby grew whiter than her at this point while Cardin just fainted outright, "n-no headmaster that won't be necessary," she stuttered terrified.

"I see, then your choices are donating the money to the school or another detention session, which will it be?" he asked raising his eyebrows.

Ruby didn't even hesitate, "here take the money," she screamed thrusting the lien into his face.

Weiss looked shocked at this, there had to be at least 300 lien in there why would anyone ever give that up to get out of a detention? Ozpin smiled as he took the container off them and Ruby began to have colour return to her face again.

"You know headmaster it's strange, over the past week you always seem to show up just as we're about to end, it's almost as if you're waiting until we get the most money we can before taking it," joked Ruby.

Ozpin just turned to look at her smiling, "you're getting smarter everyday Miss Rose," before walking off, humming a merry tune.

Weiss watched as Ruby blinked and a look of sheer rage crossed her face, screaming she grabbed Crescent Rose and preceded to chop down a tree before storming off. Leaving Weiss and an unconscious Cardin to pack up the instruments.

Two days later the new combat arena was completed three weeks ahead of schedule, when asked how it was completed so quickly the headmaster replied that it was due to numerous donations throughout the week made by an anonymous benefactor. Most assumed that it was the Schnee Company wanting to improve their daughter's schooling experience and didn't give it a second thought.

* * *

It was a good day for the citizens of Vale, the sun was out and there was not a cloud in the sky. Red followed the rest of her team to the as they walked down the streets lead by Blake.

"Hey guys why did you drag me out here?" asked Red curiously as she balanced on a guard rail.

"Because we've had it with you dragging us into your scams that always fail," replied the heiress.

"It was only one time Ice Queen and I said I was sorry! Besides they don't always fail," argued Red defensively, glaring at her team-mate.

"Oh really?" replied Weiss crossing her arms. "Tell me one time you and Cardin actually succeeded in getting the money."

"She has a point sis, besides what do you even need the money for anyway?" agreed Yang.

She shot Yang a betrayed look, "well all the stores have specials on now thanks to the festival, so I thought I could stock up on supplies while they're cheap," explained Red.

Weiss gave her an approving nod, "I see, Crescent Rose must go through a fair bit of ammunition due to your fighting style," she theorized.

Red shuffled her feat, "err… yeah ammunition that's what I meant, definitively not cookies or anything like that," she replied, chuckling nervously.

The rest of team RWBY just looked at her in disbelief before each shock their heads muttering something as they walked on. She just shrugged and jumped down from the rail following them, 'this place looks familiar,' she thought looking around.

"So where are we going?" she asked Blake.

The black themed girl glanced at her, "to see someone," she replied gruffly.

Red frowned, "three words, we're making progress," she said bitterly.

The Faunus just shot her a glare before rolling her eyes and continuing on, 'great job Red, annoy the person already angry at you,' she thought sighing. While her relationship with Yang had done a complete 180 and Weiss had become tolerable, the rest still treated her with suspicion or in Jaune's case outright terror. Nora hadn't seemed to change much but Red always found the ginger keeping one eye on her at all times when she was around, but whether it was from fear or curiosity she couldn't tell. However Blake was the worst, she openly showed hostility to her whenever possible. When she asked Yang about it the blonde had told her that Tukson was an old friend of her's and that she should just give the Faunus some time.

"We're here," announced Blake.

Red looked up and her eyes widened as she immediately turned and began walking away, "you guys have fun I'm goin- erk," she chocked as Yang grabbed her by the hood.

"Oh no you don't Ruby, you're coming in with us," she said smirking.

Ignoring her protests the blonde picked her up and threw her over her shoulder before following Blake and Weiss inside.

"Yang this is a very bad idea," she said fearfully.

"Sis if you want Blake to forgive you then this is the way to go," explained the blonde.

"Oh yeah what am I supposed to say, hi sorry about trying to kill you before but I was in a really dark place, so let's forgive and forget," she exclaimed sarcastically.

"Yes," replied Yang seriously, "sis you need to at least show you're sorry for what you've done."

"Alright Yang you've made your point," sighed Red.

The brawler placed her back on the ground and Blake rang the bell, "Tukson get out here someone needs to talk to you."

All of them looked at each other when no response came causing Blake ring the bell again, "Tukson it's me Blake are you okay?" she called.

Red frowned as she felt something weird in the room, it was confusing her aura. Tuning out a now panicking Blake she focused on the feeling of wrongness in the room, tracing it back to its source. There! In the corner of the room was the source of the problem, except turning around showed there was nothing there. 'No something is there, but it's hidden,' she realized. Deploying her scythe, much to the shock of her team-mates, she walked over to the corner and jabbed the area with the blunt end of Crescent Rose. Everyone jumped as the sound of breaking glass was heard followed by cracks appearing in the corner before the illusion was shattered. All of their eyes widened as a bleeding Tukson suddenly appeared in the previously empty corner, quickly rushing over to him Red checked his pulse. She breathed a sigh of relief, it was there but barely.

"Weiss call the ambulance, Yang check the rest of the store, make sure whoever did this isn't still around," she ordered.

Both of them nodded and went to the chosen tasks as Red turned to see a horrified Blake froze in place, "Blake? Blake snap out of it!" yelled Red slapping the Faunus.

"I need you help to stabilize him until the paramedics arrive. You're the only one here who has any sort of medical training," she said.

Blake nodded and ran over to him with Weiss as they informed the paramedics of the condition, Red frowned and gripped her scythe tighter as Yang approached and reported an all clear. The blonde looked at her with concern, "you ok Red?" she asked.

"Yeah just one problem," she answered turning on the brawler.

Suddenly Red punched her in the gut sending her flying into the wall, "You're not Yang," she finished.

'Yang' smiled and the image shattered to reveal a girl wearing a white and pink coat, black pants and undershirt and holding an umbrella.

"So it wasn't a fluke you really can see through them how interesting, now I see why he was so fascinated with you," she commented.

"What are you talking about and what have you done with my sister!" demanded Red angrily.

The girl smiled, "Blondie is currently trying to figure out where the door went, now if you'll excuse me," she said bowing as she twirled the umbrella in front of her.

"Yeah like I'd let you get away," growled Red.

Charging she brought the blunt end of Crescent Rose down on the girls head intending to knock out the attacker, only for the girl to shatter in front of her. Red's eyes widened, 'how? I didn't even notice the switch!'

Turning she looked back at Weiss and Blake, "can you both look after Tukson? I need to check on Yang," she asked quickly, they both nodded and Red ran off to find Yang.

* * *

Neo stood on the roof watching the store as the police and paramedics arrived, she frowned it looked like the traitor would survive again. She knew Earth aura was good at detection but never expected it to see through her illusions. Neo smirked, 'if she's distracted however then I'll have no problems fooling her.' Still Roman would be interested to hear what had happened because despite the failure they now knew where Red was hiding.

"I'll be seeing you again soon," said Neo a Cheshire grin on her face as she watched them walk away.

* * *

After the incident at the bookshop team RWBY were immediately brought to Ozpin's office for a debriefing.

"How did you know that the illusion was there?" asked Ozpin curious.

Red just shook her head, "it was weird, somehow it was messing with my aura. I just felt wrong in that room, not bad or good just like something wasn't quite right. It was like looking through two pairs of eyes each showing different things," she explained.

Ozpin nodded, "and she was able to disguise herself as Miss Xiao Long?"

Red just nodded, "yes and she wasn't giving off as big of a feeling as Tukson was, if she hadn't of tipped me off I never would have noticed."

Ozpin leaned onto his desk, "that is troubling and what do you mean, tipped you off?"

Red frowned, "she called me Red, Yang never does that," she explained.

Everyone turned to look at her in amazement, "that is most impressive Miss Rose," commended the headmaster.

Blake took a couple of steps forward, "headmaster what happened to Tukson?" she asked worriedly.

Ozpin's expression softened into a grateful smile, "he'll live thankfully, you all found him just in time. He's being placed into witness protection for his own safety and has been giving us lots of information about the White Fang."

"It won't matter," replied Red, "Roman would have begun changing locations as soon as he found out about the traitor."

Ozpin nodded in agreement, "sadly you're right, every warehouse we've searched has been emptied."

He leaned back into his chair, "is there anything else you want to tell me?" he asked.

Red sighed, "She was most likely high up in command or maybe even Roman's right hand man so to speak."

Ozpin raised his eyebrows, "why do you think that Miss Rose? Do you know her?"

She shook her head in response, "no but she called me Red, very few people in the White Fang knew that and most were very close to Roman."

"I see," frowned the headmaster, "thank you for the information, you are all dismissed."

As they left the office and headed back to the dorms Red turned to face them, "you guys go on ahead I'm going to be back late tonight," she informed them getting a nod from both Weiss and Yang as they headed off.

Blake however didn't move, 'here it comes the usual, I'm watching you so don't try any funny business speech,' sighed Red as she braced herself.

"Thank you," came the response instead.

Red blinked, "what?" she asked in complete confusion.

"Thank you, he would have died without you," said Blake before turning around heading back to the dorm.

"Err… you're welcome?" muttered Red as the Faunus disappeared around the corner.

Red shrugged before walking off, "what a day," she sighed exhausted.

* * *

Neo walked into the hide out with a skip in her step, ignoring the hostile looks she received from the White Fang members present she headed over to Roman.

He turned to look at her with an angry expression, "Neo you damn well better have a good reason for why that traitor is still alive. Cinder's pissed and when Cinder's pissed I'm pissed," he growled.

Neo just smiled as she recounted the events that took place in the bookshop, Roman's expression immediately turning from one of anger to intrigued as he smiled.

"So our Little Red can see through your illusions can she and she's been hiding this whole time at Beacon? That girl always finds new ways to surprise me," he said grinning.

Neo shrugged, "so what do we do now?" she asked.

He turned to look at her, "for now we do nothing and just watch her. We can't take chances here, not with her. We'll wait for an opportunity to present itself," he ordered.

She nodded and headed for her room, her Cheshire grin returning as she pictured the games she would play with the huntress.

"I can't wait."

* * *

**Ok so first chapter of the new arc is done. Unfortunately my holidays have ended so I won't be able to update as much. I'll try to keep it going as weekly updates but no promises unfortunately sorry guys.**


	18. Smoke and Mirrors

**So that new episode was something huh? We finally get to see some of Yang and Ruby's back story as well as our first glimpse of Qrow which makes me very excited to see him. However since Summer apparently is just missing not confirmed dead I will be pissed if she's still alive despite this good job RT. Man this chapter took for ages to write, there's no way I'll be able to continue weekly updates with my work load sorry guys. I'll work on chapters when I can but there is not set deadline anymore. Ok thanks to Tommy again for the inspiration for this chapter without it you would probably be waiting another week for the chapter.**

**I don't own RWBY if I did Jaune would get over Weiss already.**

* * *

'It really is a beautiful night,' thought Red, inhaling deeply. She rarely saw such a peaceful, clear star lit night back home, the big cities made sure of that. Red really loved the view from the top of Beacon's towers, they were a challenge to reach and always rewarding afterwards. Her own private little sanctuary where she could be alone with her thoughts, though Red suspected Ozpin knew about it since she had often found a mug of hot coffee left unattended for her when she arrived. _How interesting now I see why he was so fascinated with you…_ Red frowned, 'what did she mean by that?' she wondered looking at the sky. Unfortunately she was snapped out of her thoughts when the sound of clashing metal reached her, causing Red to jump and reach for Crescent Rose. Looking down to the roof she relaxed and smiled, watching as Jaune and Pyrrha began there sparring session. She was surprised by Jaune's progress, he was by no means a master and was full of openings but he had definitely improved since he'd started. Red blinked, 'once upon a time the only weapons I ever used were in video games, now I'm walking around with an anti-material sniper scythe and critiquing other's fighting styles. How times have changed,' she thought with a rueful smile. Jumping down from her sanctuary she headed to the roof as the two members of team JNPR finished sparring, neither noticing her approach as they engaged the other in conversation. 'This is going to be fun,' she grinned.

Quietly she snuck up on the duo as they were chatting before taking a deep breath, "LOOK OUT NEVERMORE!" she yelled in their ears.

Both of them jumped with Jaune letting out a girly scream as he fell to the ground and Pyrrha spinning around, Miló and Akoúo̱ drawn on Red. Despite the weapons pointed at her face Red couldn't help but fall to the ground, rolling in laughter.

"Oh my God that scream was perfect, you should have seen your faces," she struggled out between gasps.

Pyrrha looked at her unamused but sheathed her weapons none the less, while Jaune went crimson with embarrassment. Red slowly got herself under control, wiping the tears from her eyes, she got up from the ground.

"So… talk about déjà vu right?" she asked, ignoring Pyrrha's suspicious gaze.

"Déjà who?" replied Jaune in confusion.

Red shook her head in amusement, "never mind, you're sword skills are looking better Jaune. Guess your training is working right Pyrrha?" she asked turning to the red head.

The Spartan just nodded and carefully manoeuvred herself between Red and Jaune, keeping a hand on Miló and both eyes on her at all times.

Red sighed, "Relax Pyrrha I'm not here to cause trouble."

"Then why are you here Ruby?" she asked coldly.

Red turned to look up at the sky, "the stars are beautiful tonight aren't they? We never got to see them much back home, but there's something incredibly peaceful about lying down and staring up at them. Almost makes all your problems just seem to fly away," she wistfully.

Pyrrha and Jaune looked at each other confused and followed her gaze, "I can't say I really feel the same, but I guess I can understand the appeal," replied the Spartan.

"Do you ever miss it? You're home I mean?" asked Jaune gently.

Red smiled sadly and sat down on the roof's edge, "I'd be lying if I said I didn't, but I've learnt to accept it."

Jaune cautiously made his way over and sat down beside her, "so if you could go back right now, would you?"

She just shrugged, "if you'd asked me a month ago I would have said yes without hesitation."

"But now?" prompted Pyrrha joining them.

Red paused, thinking back over the past couple of weeks, "I don't know anymore," she admitted.

"So what changed?" asked Jaune curiously.

Images of Yang, Cardin and the two from her dream sprang into her head, "I guess you could say my outlook did," answered Red with a smile.

The three of them descended into a comfortable silence as they looked over the school grounds, each absorbed in their own thoughts. Eventually Pyrrha stood up and dragged Jaune to his feet, "come on Jaune we need to get some rest for our mission tomorrow."

Red looked up in surprise, "you've been given a mission?" she exclaimed.

Jaune nodded, "yeah just a pack of Beowolves causing trouble in a small village," he explained.

"I see, well good luck then Vomit Boy," she said grinning.

"Thanks Crater Face, here's hoping I won't need it," he replied gratefully before heading back to the dorms.

Pyrrha was about to follow him when Red's voice stopped her, "hey Pyrrha he's dense as a doorknob and twice as thick, if you want him to figure it out you need to be more direct, maybe a kiss would seal the deal," she informed the red head with a wink and a knowing smirk.

The Spartan's face matched her hair as she quickly followed Jaune back to the dorms, leaving a laughing Red to return to her star gazing.

"Damn Arkos shippers will be the death of me," she cursed, struggling to breathe through the laughter.

* * *

Red watched as Prof. Oobleck darted from place to place, her eyes tracking every movement perfectly, a stack of papers growing on her desk. She felt everyone's eyes watching her as she reached for another blank sheet of paper, her hand nothing but a blur as it wrote down everything Oobleck said faster the he could say it. By the end of the lesson everyone, even the professor, looked slightly shocked by the amount of notes she'd taken.

Red just looked around shrugging, "my semblance is speed remember guys?" she explained smirking.

"Wait so you copied down everything the professor said?" asked Weiss in disbelief.

"Most of it," corrected Red, "I left out the unimportant bits."

The class was silent as they processed this with wide eyes, Yang immediately threw an arm around her shoulder, "Sis did I ever tell you how much I care for you?"

"You want notes then use your own Yang," replied Red, grinning as she took the blonde's arm off her shoulder.

Red packed up her notes and was about to leave when she stopped as she had a brainwave, her grin still in place she stood on her chair, "for everyone who wants a copy of Professor Oobleck's lecture it will start at 5 lien, remember highest bidder wins, any takers?" she auctioned.

There was a brief lull in the classroom, almost like the calm before the storm, then suddenly Red was surrounded by bidding students. Professor Oobleck just watched the scene in growing amusement as she was swarmed by over eager students, each pushing the others out of the way. Unfortunately this pushing session led to all the students breaking out into a brawl, leaving all the potential bidders on the floor unconscious. Team RWBY just watched the end result from the carnage with shock when they heard chuckling coming from Oobleck.

"Well Miss Rose when the headmaster told us about you I must admit I thought he was joking, but you really are Chaos Incarnate," commented the professor amused.

"I'm not that bad am I?" she pondered.

"Ruby this is the sixth time this week you've caused a riot," said Yang sternly.

Red looked up in surprise at this, "but it's only been two days," she exclaimed in disbelief.

"Exactly my point! If you keep this up I'm taking away your cookie privileges," threatened the blonde.

Red gasped, "You fiend!" she cried.

Yang looked on unimpressed as she dragged her out of the room leaving the others to apologize to the professor. After a couple of minutes Weiss and Blake caught up and they walked on to the cafeteria to get some lunch. For most of RWBY it was too quite without team JNPR here but Red didn't mind, after all she wasn't really on that good terms with them plus she usually sat with CRDL most days anyway.

"Hey guys what's up?" greeted a male voice.

Turning around they saw Sun walking over to them, a silly grin on his face. The monkey Faunus joined them at the table with a plate full of bananas. 'Why is Sun here he isn't a Beacon student, is he?' thought Red confused.

"What are you doing here Sun?" she asked.

He turned to look at her, "I'm part of the Haven students staying here for the festival," he explained.

Red frowned, 'what's Haven? A Beacon equivalent?' she thought confused before Sun snapped her out of her thoughts.

"I remember you, you were at the shipyards," he said staring at her.

"This is my younger sister and leader of team RWBY, Ruby Rose," introduced Yang.

"Or you can just call me Red, whatever you prefer," Red added.

Sun dropped his food and just stared at her with unblinking eyes. RWBY shared glances with each other as Red waved her hand in front the stunned Faunus.

"I think I broke him," she joked.

Sun shook his head and turned to face her, "you're Ruby Rose? The Red Reaper, the Destroyer of Classrooms and Chaos Incarnate?" he asked hesitantly.

"Hey! Yang destroyed the combat room to and how come everyone knew about this chaos thing but me," she said defensively.

Sun's eyes became wide at this as he ran over to her and, much to everyone's surprise, knelt down on one knee in front of her. "My Queen please take pity on this humble Faunus and teach me your ways," he begged.

All of their jaws dropped at this, Red quickly recovered however as a grin spread on her face, "very well Sun Wukong I shall take you under my wing," she replied taking out Crescent Rose.

"From this moment on you shall be known as Sir Sun," she announced, placing the scythe on both his shoulders.

As Sun stood up he turned to face her, "by the way how did you know my name?" he asked confused.

"Oh err… I heard the others talking about you," she lied.

"Whatever they said is a lie," denied the Faunus.

Red laughed and turned to the rest of team RWBY, "I'll see you guys later, come on Sir Sun we have work to do," she said giving them a wave.

"Remember what I said Ruby," threatened Yang.

"You said I couldn't do anything, you never said anything about someone else doing it," informed Red, sticking out her tongue at the blonde as they turned to leave.

"Team RWBY please report to the headmaster's office immediately," ordered a voice over the PA system.

They all looked at each other in confusion before saying goodbye to Sun as they left the cafeteria and headed to Ozpin's office.

* * *

Red closed her eyes and gripped the harness as the Bullhead made its way to their destination, 'I had hoped never to set foot in one of these again,' she thought pale faced. The rest of team RWBY were silent as they gave their equipment last minute checks, a concerned atmosphere spreading throughout the aircraft. The sombre mood didn't surprise Red as she thought back to when they were given this mission.

_The four of them stood in Ozpin's office, waiting for the headmaster to explain the cause for the sudden meeting. The headmaster was missing his trademark mug of coffee as he placed his scroll back on his desk with a sigh._

"_Two days ago I sent team JNPR on a routine patrol mission to a small village," he began._

_Red nodded, "yeah Jaune told me, it was to eliminate a pack of Beowolves right?" she asked._

_Ozpin glanced at her, "correct Miss Rose, however we have currently lost all contact with them. To make matters worse their last transmission was a request for back up."_

_They all frowned, while Jaune wasn't the best fighter his team-mates were no push overs, Pyrrha was even world famous because of it. They should have been able to take out a pack of Beowolves easily, seeing their expressions Ozpin nodded._

"_It seems you understand the situation, I'm sending you all to find out what happened to them and if necessary help them complete their mission," he ordered them._

"_Understood," they all replied._

Red was snapped out of her thoughts by the sound of the Bullhead pilot, "ok we're in sight of the village now so far no activity of any kind, it looks deserted. I'll drop you off near the town centre then move to a safe distance. Radio in when you want an evac."

"Got it, thanks mate," replied Red.

As the aircraft touched down team RWBY quickly rushed out with weapons drawn, seeing nothing they turned to watch the Bullhead fly off. As they walked down the empty streets a sense of unease began to grow, 'where is everyone?' thought Red wearily. She could almost feel eyes watching their every move as they searched the nearby houses.

"Hello! Anyone home?" called Yang knocking on the door.

Red jumped, "Yang stop that!" she ordered fearfully.

The other three just turned to look at her in surprise, "something is watching us," explained Red.

"How can you tell?" asked Weiss.

Red just shot the heiress a deadpan look before turning to Blake, "Blake you have the best night vision, I want you to find some high ground and begin searching for JNPR. The rest of us will continue to look for clues to what happened here."

The Faunus nodded and climbed up on the roof before disappearing into the darkness to begin her search. The rest of team RWBY headed down the streets, keeping their weapons ready as they searched the nearby houses.

"I don't like this, where did everyone go?" asked Weiss nervously.

"The lights are on and some even have their dinner still set up so they must have left in a hurry," commented Yang.

"But what could cause everyone to just abandon their homes?" replied the heiress.

"Survival," answered Yang as she examined a wall.

"A pack of Beowolves wouldn't cause them to abandon the entire village," argued Weiss.

"That's assuming that the Grimm did this," shot back the blonde.

"What do you mean Yang?" asked Red.

Yang got up and turned to face them, "this place is too intact, if Grimm were responsible for this then we would be seeing more destroyed infrastructure. Also take a look at this wall, notice anything about it?" she explained.

Red and Weiss looked at each and shrugged before approaching the wall, "ok Yang we give up what are we supposed to be looking for?" asked Red after a couple of minutes.

The brawler approached them, "look at the wall, it's covered with holes," replied Yang pointing at the numerous holes.

Red's eyes widened, "they're from dust rounds," she exclaimed in understanding.

Yang nodded, "exactly and last I checked Grimm don't use guns."

"True but they could have been caused by team JNPR's weapons," replied Weiss.

Yang frowned and was about to argue when they heard a sound coming from behind them, causing them to spin around with weapons ready. Only to lower them as they saw the NPR of JNPR stumble out of the alley way.

"Are you guys ok? What happened here? Where's Jaune?" asked Red as they rushed over to them.

Upon hearing her voice the remnants of team JNPR looked up and readied there weapons, an expression of hate on all their faces. Red stopped and began backing away as Pyrrha charged her, shield bashing her in the face before she could react.

"You monster!" screamed the Spartan, readying another attack.

Unable to dodge in time Red just closed her eyes and waited for the blow that never came. Opening her eyes in surprise she saw Yang grasping Pyrrha's spear before throwing a punch that knocked the Spartan back a few feet.

"Ruby why don't you take a walk, Weiss and I need to have a little chat with JNPR," said the glowing blonde as Weiss walked up beside her.

"Yang are you sure?" asked Red.

Yang nodded, "Go find Jaune maybe he can tell us what happened here, we'll try to keep them busy for as long as we can," she ordered.

"Alright I'll be as quick as I can, just be careful you two, they look serious," replied Red as she disappeared into rose petals.

"Don't worry Ruby it's not us you should be worried about," growled Yang as they both got into their combat stances.

* * *

Pyrrha watched as Ruby disappeared an enraged expression on her face, "Why are you defending that monster!" she screamed at them.

"She's not a monster Pyrrha, she's just been dealt a bad hand," argued Weiss.

Pyrrha rounded on her, "You to Weiss! I expected it from Yang but you to!" she roared.

"You have no idea what she's done," growled Ren.

"I'm going to break her legs," hissed Nora.

"What are you all talking about? Where is Jaune?" asked Yang confused.

And as if a trigger had been pulled the minute Yang mentioned the name Pyrrha roared in fury before charging the two members of RWBY followed by Nora and Ren. Weiss quickly threw up a glyph underneath them as they dived to the sides, avoiding NPR's mad bull rush.

"Weiss I'll take Pyrrha you keep Ren and Nora busy," ordered Yang.

Weiss nodded, "alright but be careful her semblance is Polarity," warned the heiress as they split apart.

Yang nodded and fired multiple rounds at the trio forcing them to separate before charging the Spartan while Weiss blocked off Ren and Nora. Quickly closing the distance between the two of them she dodged the red head's return fire, landing a punch that was blocked by the shield causing Pyrrha to nearly stumble from the force of the blow. Glaring the two began circling each other neither breaking eye contact.

* * *

Weiss had been trained to fight since a young age, so she was no stranger to combat. However her style was more suited to one on one style duelling and was not as effective against multiple opponents, especially against these two. It was clear that they were partners for a reason, both their fighting styles effectively covering for the other. As a result Weiss was always on the defensive, whenever the heiress saw an opening she was unable to take advantage of it as the other would press their attack. 'I need to isolate them, but if I do one of them might go after Ruby,' she thought angrily as she dodged another jumping hammer attack.

"Would you two just calm down and think about what you're doing!" she yelled at them.

"We're doing the right thing, now stand aside Weiss. We only want Ruby," stated Ren calmly.

"That's not going to happen," replied the heiress, throwing a stasis glyph around Nora before shooting towards Ren.

The eastern boy twisted out of the way and sent an aura infused open palm strike into her stomach as she passed, causing her to fall to the ground coughing. Unable to focus through the shock and pain of the blow her glyph around Nora faded, releasing the ginger from her prison. The two began to walk back to Pyrrha leaving Weiss on the ground struggling to catch her breath. Seeing her chance she stabbed Myrtenaster into the ground encasing their legs in ice.

"Silly Weiss thinks ice will stop Nora!" taunted the ginger as she slammed Magnhild into the ice, shattering it on impact.

Once again freed the two members of team JNPR turned back to the heiress as she staggered up. Both of them began to approach her with weapons drawn when Nora suddenly found herself pushed to the ground as something landed on her.

"You know two on one isn't very fair, why don't we even up the odds?" said Blake.

* * *

'What's going on? Why are JNPR attacking me?' thought a confused Red as she ran down the streets. Sure she wasn't exactly welcomed by them anymore but not to the point that they'd attack her for no reason and their expressions, they were the same as Yang's during her escape from Beacon. The buildings were came into focus once again as she slowed to a stop and leaned against a wall, still recovering from her recent blow to the head. 'I need to find Jaune and figure out what happened here,' she realized as the ringing in her head stopped. Red was about to continue her search when an explosion of yellow aura appeared behind her, 'that's Yang's aura, things must be getting worse if she needed to use it.'

"It's such a shame to see friends fight like that, isn't it Red? Especially when they're both in right," commented an amused voice.

Spinning around Red brought Crescent Rose into a ready position, glaring at the girl in front of her. "What do you mean 'both in then right?' What did you do!" she demanded.

The multi-coloured girl smiled, "I didn't do anything, but you on the other hand…" she trailed off twirling the umbrella.

Then the girl disappeared and in her place stood a copy of Red, complete with silver eyes and scythe. "What do you think, not bad huh?" teased her doppelganger as she twirled in front of Red.

"Although we didn't expect the others to defend you, still the unpredictability is what makes these games so much fun," smiled her double.

Red's eyes narrowed, 'we? Damn it she's got help this time around. I need to end this quickly.' Wasting no time she semblanced behind her double, bring Crescent Rose down on her head only to see the image shatter before her eyes.

"Now that wasn't very nice I was having a pleasant conversation here, in fact I was going to tell you where that wannabe knight was," pout the now normal looking girl from above Red.

She turned to face the illusionist, "tell me now," growled Red.

The criminal's cheshire smile grew larger, "no I don't think I will," she replied.

"Good, now I get to beat the answers out of you," responded Red, a savage grin wide on her face.

* * *

Yang dived to the side as Pyrrha threw Akoúo̱ at her, unfortunately the shield followed the blonde's movements hitting her in the gut. The Spartan didn't wait for the brawler to recover from her coughing fit and instead charged Yang with Miló in sword form. Unable to react in time Yang was thrown back into a street light causing it to collapse.

"Pyrrha stop this before one of us gets seriously injured!" cried the blonde as she struggled to her feet.

"Get out of the way Yang, she needs to pay," growled the red head.

"I don't know what's wrong with you Pyrrha but you're not touching Ruby," replied Yang slamming her fists together.

An explosion of yellow aura erupted from her, blowing away debris and knocking the Spartan to the ground. The red head quickly recovered and back pedalled while firing at Yang, whom leapt into the air as the rounds past beneath her. Pyrrha quickly brought Akoúo̱ up as Yang delivered a downwards punch into the shield, causing the ground to crack beneath them and a large dent to appeared in the shield. Seeing an opportunity Pyrrha let go of Miló and blocked punches from both of Ember Celica's gauntlets. Miló was instantly back in her hand after the blocks and the red head attempted to sweep kicked Yang's feet from under her. Seeing this the blonde attempted to block it only to find her hand move too slowly, almost as if something was pushing against it. Eyes widening Yang fell to the ground before rolling to the side as Pyrrha brought her sword down where her head just was. Jumping back into her combat stance Yang backed up as they both stared at each other, waiting for the other to make their next move. 'What just happened? I should have been able to block that kick,' she thought confused. Her eyes rested on her gauntlets as understanding dawned, grinning Yang turned back to face the Spartan as she detached Ember Celica from her wrists.

"Figured I'd give you a handicap after all you seem to need it," teased the glowing blonde.

Pyrrha just snarled and the two charged each other once again.

* * *

Blake leapt off Nora as the Ren turned and unloaded a blast from StormFlower at the Faunus, flipping around in midair Blake turned and fired Gambol Shroud. Using her ribbon the Faunus swung into Ren, knocking the eastern boy over before switching to her dual wielding sword and sheath combo. Ren responded by back flipping onto his feet and deflecting both weapons with the blades attached to his SMGs before retaliating by spraying into Blake at point blank range. Noticing this Weiss threw a glyph under her team-mate's feet and Blake leapt to the side, turning to face her opponent as he ran at her firing all the way. Nora tried to help her partner but immediately had to dodge numerous fireballs that the heiress threw at her. Growling the ginger switched Magnhild to its grenade launcher form and unleashed a barrage of explosives at Weiss, leaving her with no time or room to dodge. Frowning the heiress stabbed Myrtenaster into the ground creating a wall of ice in front of her just as the grenades hit, causing ice shards to shower all the combatants. Seeing her chance Blake disengaged from Ren and ran over to Weiss.

"Weiss what's going on here?" asked the confused Faunus.

"I don't know when we found them they attacked Ruby," informed Weiss.

The two of them watched as Ren and Nora began moving in complete synch, "this is going to be difficult," said Blake worriedly.

Weiss smirked, "don't worry I have a plan," she whispered.

* * *

Red switched Crescent Rose to its gun mode and fired up at the illusionist, not surprised to see the image shatter before her, "smart, instead of charging you're using your range attacks to see if I'm real or not," complemented the girl from behind her.

Red spun around, only to feel a clip of dust rounds to strike her in the back, knocking her to the ground. 'What was that?' she thought glancing around for the source of the fire. As she was searching for her attacker she was hit again and sent flying into a wall, this time from what felt like a kick to the stomach.

"What's the matter Red? You can't stop now the fun's only just begun," teased her opponent.

'She must be hiding her friends as well as her,' realized the reaper. Frowning she climbed out of the Red sized crater and walked into the middle of the street, ignoring the many taunting remarks from the illusionist. 'Ok just like in the store focus on my aura, remember the two sets of eyes,' she thought closing her eyes. Standing stock still and taking a deep breath she steadied her breathing and heart rate, her arms hanging limply by her sides with Crescent Rose back in scythe mode. Feeling something approaching her from behind Red spun around and brought the blunt end down on her opponent. The sound of glass shattering was heard as the White Fang grunt fell to the ground unconscious, not giving them any time to react Red fired into a second figure. By the time the other grunt fell down wounded she had already disappeared in a flash of rose petals, charging the last figure present. Bringing her scythe down with an overhead swing Red felt something block it and the image shattered to reveal a very angry illusionist.

"Hey guess what, I. Can. See. You," grinned Red as she opened her now red outlined silver eyes.

Grinning Red was about to activate her electricity trap when her eyes widened and she jumped back, breaking the deadlock between them as a large dust round passed by where she was moments ago. Turning to face this new threat she felt blood drain from her face, 'oh shit.' There causally strolling towards her with his characteristic smug grin was none other the Roman Torchwick.

"Well Red you certainly know how to put on a show don't you?" clapped the criminal.

"Well I aim to please," she replied backing away.

"Indeed but I'm afraid you're going to come with us, some important people want to meet you," informed Roman.

"Over my dead body," hissed Red.

"I see that's a shame, Neo if you would," he said turning to the illusionist.

"Gladly," replied Neo, giving her a hateful glare.

Red smiled, "more illusions? Fine I'll just beat them again and again," she taunted.

Neo grinned, "maybe but can you beat you own demons?" she asked.

Red frowned as everything suddenly turned black around her.

* * *

Weiss and Blake dodged to the side as Nora launched another barrage at them while Ren used the covering fire to get in close to them. Knowing the eastern boy's skill in close quarters the two members leapt over Ren, tripping him as they passed and charged Nora, ignoring him all together. Neither member of team JNPR were ready for the sudden change in tactics, forcing the ginger to back pedal while shifting Magnhild back to the hammer mode as they approached. Weiss shot forward with her rapier raised causing Nora to spin and deflect it with the handle of her hammer and swing it around for a counter attack. The minute Nora turned her back however Blake attacked her from behind, stopping the ginger's counter attack and making her cry out in pain. The two of them worked like a pack of Beowolves as they used JNPR's previous tactics against the ginger.

"Nora!" cried Ren as he rushed to his friend's aid.

'Perfect just as we planned,' grinned Weiss as Ren forced Blake off from Nora. Together they forced the two members of JNPR closer and closer until they were literally back to back.

"Now!" called Weiss.

Using all her remaining energy she threw a stasis glyph at the two's feet forcing them to be stuck together. Blake quickly fired Gambol Shroud to Weiss and the two circled their opponents, using the ribbon to tie them up before removing their dropped weapons. With the weapons taken and their wielders captured the heiress dropped her glyph, giving a sigh of exhaustion.

"Why are you here?" questioned the now tied up Ren.

"To help you, we received your distress signal. Only when we get here everyone's missing and the people we were trying to help attack us," growled a very annoyed Weiss.

Ren and Nora looked at each other, "what distress signal?" asked Ren confused.

Weiss and Blake looked equally confused and were about to respond when an all too familiar scream pieced the silent night.

* * *

Yang blocked another blow from Pyrrha, wincing slightly, even with the aura coating her arms it still hurt without Ember Celica to help. The red head showed no mercy though, following the attack with a shield bashing from Akoúo̱ to the head nearly knocking the blonde out entirely. Still the force of the blow knock Yang to the ground and Pyrrha backed up watching as the blonde slowly got up from the ground her eyes a blood red and her hair now in flames. Seeing the brawler wasn't going down the Spartan roared in frustration before activating her semblance as bits of debris began floating around her. She threw the pieces at Yang, whom attempted to dodge but like with Akoúo̱ the debris just followed her. Having no other option the brawler simply punched the pieces, using her aura and semblance to shatter them on impact. Noticing this Pyrrha picked up the collapsed street light and using all her energy threw it at Yang at an incredible speed. However instead of seeing the blonde go flying and finally out of her way, Pyrrha's jaw dropped as she watched Yang grabbed the light and stop it entirely.

"Hey Pyrrha, thanks for the power up," said the brawler, grinning as she lifted the light over her head.

"In fact why don't I return the favour," she continued before throwing the light post at the red head.

Not having enough energy left to redirect it the Spartan dived to the side, only to meet Yang as she quickly leapt onto Pyrrha, tackling her to the ground and getting her in a strangle hold.

"Pyrrha calm down! Tell me why you attacked Ruby and where Jaune is," she interrogated.

Pyrrha stopped struggling and broke down into tears, "he's dead and she killed him! She slit his throat right in front of us," cried the Spartan.

Yang frowned, "Pyrrha what are you talking about? Ruby has been with us the entire time you were gone," she informed the sobbing red head.

The Spartan paused, "but that's not possible we saw her!" she exclaimed.

Yang got up from the red head, "Pyrrha she was framed and you played right into their hands," she accused.

Pyrrha looked ready to argue more but stopped when they both heard a scream of pain and terror fill the air. Yang's eyes widened, "hold on Ruby I'm coming!" she called running towards the sound, Pyrrha hesitating before following the blonde.

* * *

Red looked around confused, 'what happened to the town and where are Roman and Neo?' Everywhere she looked the houses from the village had been replaced by dead trees and plants surrounded by thorns. 'I've had enough of this,' she thought angrily as she attempted to break the illusion, only to fail as her aura refused to activate. Red felt panic start to rise in her chest as she continued to fail in activating her aura, the forest's silent atmosphere beginning to make her feel uneasy.

"Neo get out here and maybe I won't beat your ice cream ass to next Sunday!" demanded Red, whom got an eerie silence as response.

Growling Red took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down, 'ok think there's got to be a way out of this,' she reasoned. Just as she thought this a hedge of thorns split apart in front of her, 'well looks like I'm expected.' Unsheathing Crescent Rose she followed the newly made track until she came across a clearing filled with the first living things she'd seen. The entire clearing was filled with red and black rose bushes, as Red began to examine the plants she heard an all too familiar sound. Red began shaking as a low growl was heard behind her, spinning around she gripped her scythe tighter as the oily shadows emerged from the woods and began their damning whispers.

"Stay away!" she screamed swinging the scythe wildly in front of her.

The shadows approached her regardless and the red roses slowly turned black as they came closer, Red kept backing away until she felt her back hit a trunk.

Sliding down the tree Red fell into a fetal position, "you're just illusions, nothing more than smoke and mirrors, you're not real," she began muttering.

_We are just as real as you are Red._

Red looked up as the multitude of voices ceased their incessant whispering and watched with a fascinated horror as the shadows began fusing together into a single being. She gasped, the figure standing before looked like someone had taken her form but coloured it completely black with with a white mask covering half her face and glowing red eyes.

"What… what are you?" she asked fearfully.

"What you will be," replied the figure grabbing Red's arm.

Red screamed as an unimaginable pain coursed throughout her body before once again everything blacked out and she was sent to the blessed void of unconsciousness.

* * *

Roman smiled as he watched Red's eyes glaze over and her scythe fall from her hands as she just stood there staring at nothing, finally despite the complications the plan succeeded. Still with the amount of preparation that went into this it wasn't a surprise that it had worked.

"What did you do to her Neo?" whistled Roman turning to his partner in crime.

"Trapped her in a nightmare of her own making, they're always more personal and creative than anything I can come up with," grinned the illusionist.

"How long will she be out?" he asked.

"It depends on the person but I'd say at least a couple of hours," she informed him.

Roman nodded and called in for pickup before ordering the evacuation of the White Fang from the village. Sighing in relief the two of them were about to walk off when they heard a scream erupt from behind them. Spinning around showed that Red was on her knees screaming as her aura flared, blasting the two crooks off their feet.

"Neo what the hell is going on?" demanded Roman.

"I don't know this has never happened before!" she shouted back.

Roman growled as he got up, watching as Red's aura began to grow darker until it was almost black. "Damn it, if you want some done right around here," he growled, rushing over to Red before slamming his cane over her head.

The screaming stopped immediately as her aura turned back to normal and she collapsed into his arms. Throwing Red over his shoulder he turned to glare at Neo as their Bullhead arrived.

"Ruby!" cried a voice from behind them.

Sighing Roman turned to see team RWBY and JNPR assembled before him with weapons drawn, each with their own expression of rage in their faces.

"Neo you're slipping," he groaned before his expression brightened, "good thing I had a backup plan."

"Give me my sister and I'll let you keep your manhood," growled the blonde.

Roman smirked, "tempting but I have a better idea, none of you move and your shining knight gets to keep his life," he replied snapping his fingers.

The Beacon teams gasped as they saw a White Fang grunt drag an unconscious Jaune out from the Bullhead.

"Jaune's alive?" said Pyrrha in disbelief.

"Amazing what illusions can do isn't it? So what's it going to be? Risk his life to try and stop us in your tired state or let us go without a fight?" commented the smug criminal.

Yang looked ready to bash the crook's skull in but was held back by Blake who simply shook her head causing the blonde to look away. Roman smiled as the teams watched him load his two prisoners onto the Bullhead before giving them a wave as they took off leave the village far behind.

* * *

**Well there you go I hope you guys liked the chapter, I didn't really have much to go on for Neo's fighting style except lots of fan speculations so sorry if it didn't live up to what you had hoped. It will be better in the future once we actually see Neo fight I promise.**


	19. A Grave Discovery

**Sorry this took so long but real life is a bitch sometimes. Anyway I wanted to thank you guys for being patient with me and a special thanks to animatwin for thinking up the OC introduced in this chapter. Unfortunately exams are starting soon so I won't be able to work on any chapters for at least two weeks, as an apology I made this chapter extra long, sorry guys.**

**I don't own RWBY this should be obvious by now.**

* * *

"What did you just say!" screamed Yang, slamming her fist onto his desk.

"No I'm not going to authorize a rescue mission or a search party," replied Ozpin, giving them an apologetic look.

Yang growled and rushed towards him with her fist raised high and hair ablaze, only to be stopped by Blake and Nora. While the two of them tried to calm the raging blonde Pyrrha walked over to the headmaster.

"Please sir it's our fault this happened at least let team JNPR search for the two of them, team RWBY wouldn't miss out on class then," begged the red head.

The headmaster turned to face her, "you're misunderstanding me Miss Nykos. I'm not stopping you because of school work. I'm stopping you because we simply don't have the resources required to find them."

"I could get the Schnee Company to help, they'd be more than happy to hurt the White Fang," suggested Weiss desperately.

Ozpin shook his head sadly, "if the Schnee Dust Company had the resources to find the White Fang they would have dealt with them already."

"So we should just do nothing while they're doing God knows what to Ruby and Jaune!" exclaimed Yang.

Ozpin slammed his mug on the desk and stood up glaring at her, "and what would you suggest we do Yang Xiao Long!" he snapped as his calm façade dropped, causing all of them to jump.

"Search all of Vale? We don't have enough people to even search a district! Alert the police? We have already done so! Attack the White Fang bases? Every single known warehouse used by the White Fang has been emptied, in fact we don't even know if their still operating in the city anymore!" he yelled before sitting back down.

"They were clearly planning this for some time and Roman has outsmarted us at every turn, so if you have any suggestions I would love to hear them because I'm running on empty," sighed Ozpin rubbing his temples.

The office was silent as the students recovered from the headmaster's unexpected outburst, Yang's hair had even turned back to normal.

"Why did they kidnap Ruby and Jaune?" asked Ren.

"Ruby did used to work for them, maybe she learnt something she shouldn't have," suggested Weiss.

"No if that was the case they would have just silenced her like they did with Tukson," replied Blake.

"You are correct Miss. Belladonna, if they captured Miss Rose and Mr. Arc then logic dictates that they needed them alive for something," mused Ozpin as his calm mask returned.

"Maybe it was because of her abilities, after all from what she told me they seemed to greatly value them," commented Yang.

"That makes sense but why Jaune then?" asked Pyrrha.

Ozpin coughed drawing all of their attention, "they could be using Mr. Arc as an insurance to keep her loyal this time around, since he was a friend of her's and also the weakest link. However I don't think that is the reason for their kidnapping."

"What makes you say that headmaster?" asked Weiss curiously.

Ozpin turned to face the window, "just a theory that I hope is wrong," he replied cryptically.

"So what do we do now?" questioned a depressed Yang.

Ozpin just sighed, "Just keep your eyes and ears open and hope for the best, that's all we can do."

As the teams trudged out of the office Ozpin looked down at the mug on his table, "please let me be wrong," he muttered depressed.

* * *

"Ruby! Ruby wake up!"

Red groaned as she felt someone shaking her shoulder, slapping the hand off her shoulder she rolled over to get away from the annoyance. Unfortunately the shaking and calling only increased tenfold in respond to this.

"Ruby seriously now is not the time to sleep in!" cried a familiar voice.

'Is that Jaune? Why is he in our dorm?' wondered Red. Yawning she sat up and opened her eyes to see a worried Jaune sitting next to her. Looking around she noticed that she wasn't in her dorms but instead what looked to be an improvised jail cell made from an old dust container. Suddenly the memories of the town came rushing back and she immediately snapped out of her sleepy daze and turned to Jaune.

"Jaune are you ok? Where are we?" she asked, frantically.

Jaune shrugged, "I don't know, when I woke up we were already thrown in here," he informed her.

Red sighed, "Ok then what's the last thing you remember?"

"We arrived at the village and were greeted by a group of Faunus who had called for the help. They told us to stay the night in the local inn and wait until the Grimm arrived," replied Jaune frowning.

"Then during the night we heard something and went to investigate, I remember seeing a girl wave me over and then everything went black. Next thing I know we're locked up in here," he grimaced rubbing his head.

Red was about to reply when they both heard a group of people approaching, quickly shutting the two of them up as they focused on the new arrivals. She wasn't surprised to see the smirking criminal look back at her however she did raise her eyebrows at his companion.

"Adam, wish I could say it's a pleasure to see you again but I think we both know that's a lie," she greeted the Faunus.

"Indeed I would've liked to meet again on better circumstances," nodded Adam.

Jaune nudged her, "Ruby who is that and how does he know you?" he whispered.

Red glanced at him, "that's Adam Taurus, one of the higher ups for the White Fang. I used to work with him and his team on missions," she whispered back.

Jaune immediately grew pale and backed away from their captors as they walked up to the cell door, both ignoring the blonde knight and keeping their attention focused on her. Red didn't flinch under their gaze and just yawned in front of them.

"You know compared to that crappy room you gave me last time these sleeping arrangements are a five star resort," she joked.

"Of course it's my duty as a gentlemen to keep a lady comfortable," replied Roman, before dropping his smug smile.

"Tell me Red do you recognize this symbol?" asked the crook in a serious tone, holding up a piece of paper.

She frowned as she examined the symbol, it was a blue upside down pentagon with what looked like a planet inside it and a black X running over both with two words above the symbol. Red's eyes grew wide as she recognized the planet shown and the words 'Semper Vigilans', causing Roman to give a triumphant smile.

"So you do know it, care to explain what it is?" he ordered.

Red shook her head, "I've never seen the symbol before but I recognize that language and the planet," she informed him.

"Oh," said Roman intrigued, "and what can you tell me about them."

Red glanced at the paper conflicted before giving a sigh as she spoke up, "It's a very old language but a large majority of modern languages evolved from it making it relatively well known. It's called Latin, a language from Earth, as for that planet… you're looking at the Earth itself."

Everyone looked at her in shock, "really? Now isn't that interesting, what does the writing say?" asked Roman.

She just shrugged, "I don't know, just because I can recognize it doesn't mean I can speak it," she replied to his frustration.

"I guess that will have to do," growled the criminal as he and Adam walked out.

"Hey wait! What's going on her! Why did you capture us?" demanded Red, only to growl when the sound of a door shutting was their only response.

As the door shut behind them Adam turned the crook, "looks like your suspicions were correct after all."

Roman frowned, an expression of deep thought on his face, "is that bug we planted on Red working?" he asked.

Adam nodded, "it began responding just before we walked in…why are we doing this again?" he asked confused.

Roman just sighed, "Because our new 'partners' are going to double cross us and I want to know where to hit them when they do. Get them ready for transport and remember tell no one about tracker we still don't know who their sleeper agent is," he ordered as he walked off, leaving Adam to stare at the dot on the scroll in his hand.

* * *

'Why did that symbol have Latin writing and more importantly why was Earth on it? Did Roman actually find a way back to Earth? No he would've gloated if that was the case plus he seemed almost worried about it,' Red took a deep breath to calm down her hyperactive brain.

Jaune gave her a concerned look, "Ruby are you ok?"

She just nodded and began pacing around their cell, looking for any escape route they could exploit. Unfortunately even though the cell was improvised it was built well, with no noticeable structural weaknesses, 'must have had practice making these,' she thought sadly thinking back to the three Schnee prisoners. Giving a tired sigh she sat down next to Jaune who did his best to keep up a calm façade but Red could clearly see the worry in his eyes.

"So what's the plan Ruby?" asked Jaune hopefully.

"I don't know Jaune, I guess we just wait," she said defeated.

"We'll have to sleep in shifts so we can't be caught unaware, since I got the most rest I'll take first watch," offered the blonde.

Red smirked, "and you'll be my knight in shining armour," she teased.

The reaper laughed as Jaune's face became flushed and rested her head against his shoulders, only to hear something clang along the floor of their cell. A hissing noise quickly followed and Red felt her eyes growing heavy as she coughed and sleep claimed her once more.

* * *

_Clack Clack Clack._

_Ruby felt her bed going up and down, 'my bed doesn't move,' thought the toddler. Yawning she slowly opened her eyes to see she was in a big red wooden box with wheels. The box went up and down as it hit bumps in the path. Ruby looked forward and saw her older sister Yang dragging the box by its handle, 'why are we out here? Mommy and daddy won't be happy, they said the trees were dangerous and the monsters lived there.' She tried to tell Yang but her sister was too focused on the thing in her hand to hear her soft voice._

"_I'm almost there, don't worry mom I'll see you soon," Yang muttered to herself._

'_Oh we're going to see mommy ok then,' thought Ruby as she snuggled back into her makeshift bed, her eyelids growing heavy as a house came into view._

Red woke with a start, groaning as a familiar head ache made itself known. 'A memory flash, it's been awhile and just when I thought I'd never have to suffer them anymore,' she thought as the pain began to subside.

Red cried as her head suddenly hit something hard causing a large spike of pain to lance through it, "as if my head wasn't in pain already," she grumbled.

Groggily she tried to stand up only to find the both her and Jaune tied back to back and chained to a seat of what looked to be the interior of a Bullhead. Suddenly the Bullhead dipped slightly and Red had to close her eyes, 'yep definitely a Bullhead,' she thought angrily.

"Jaune, Jaune! Are you ok?" she whispered to her companion.

The blonde in question didn't respond and even when Red kicked him in the shins, she just sighed, 'must still be unconscious, damn that must have been some sleeping gas.' Her thoughts were interrupted be the sound of the door opening, spinning around she saw Neo emerge from the cockpit.

"Oh you're up, impressive that was enough gas to keep an Ursa down. So enjoying yourself?" she mocked walking up to Red.

Red just snarled at her and leapt to her feet, only to be dragged back down by the chains. Neo smiled and patted her on the head like a dog, ignoring the growling directed at her.

"You're more of a beast then these animals that we work with," insulted the illusionist as Red continued struggling.

"When I get out of here I'm going to rip you to bloody shreds," hissed Red, a dark red outline briefly forming around her.

Neo immediately backed up and watched her carefully as the outline faded, only approaching Red again when it was completely gone. This time however the illusionist didn't get far as the minute she was in range Red sent a lightning fast kick to her gut. Neo cried out and doubled over in pain before she raised her umbrella to return the favour.

"STOP!" ordered a male voice.

Neo glared at Red and lowered her umbrella as they turned to Roman whom had just entered, "they want her and I don't think they will enjoy damaged products, do you?" he stated glaring at Neo.

The illusionist muttered her apologies as she turned to leave, "bye bye Neo-chan," called Red in a sing song voice as the door slammed shut.

"You really have a way with people don't you Red," commented the smiling crook.

She just shrugged, "well your new friend is a real piece of work, where'd you find her anyway?"

"A story for another time perhaps, still you seem to excel at making my job infinitely more difficult Red," sighed Roman as he took a seat directly across from them.

"Of course, it's not work if you enjoy it," she replied cheerfully.

The criminal glared at her, "You know most people would be trying to get on their captor's good side at this point," he pointed out.

"Yeah well I'm not like most people Roman you should know this by now, anyway mind telling me why you went through all this trouble to capture us," she asked intrigued.

"Our new business partners wanted you for some reason they refused to inform us of," he replied bitterly.

Red frowned, "you don't sound too happy about getting new allies, does this have anything to do with the symbol you showed me?"

Roman nodded, "I was hoping that you would know what it meant, any information to let me know who I'm dealing with here," he admitted.

"But wait why did you take Jaune then, he has nothing to do with this," she said confused before shutting her eyes as they encountered more turbulence.

Roman watched her in mild amusement, "to keep you from escaping. You've proven to be extremely resourceful so we're taking no chances. You might be able to escape but not with him in tow," he explained.

The two of them stared at each other in silence until they felt the Bullhead begin to descend, "well looks like we've arrived, remember you're supposed to be unconscious," he stated.

As the Bullhead's door opened up Red stretched her neck and saw two heavily armoured figures and a blonde female standing between them. She didn't get much of a look at them however as one of the White Fang grunts threw a bag over her head. He then unchained them from the seat but left them tied together as they were carried out of the aircraft.

"Is this her?" asked a cold female voice.

Red gasped, 'that accent… there's no way,' she thought as she listened to the conversation.

"Yeah that's Red alright, good luck holding her, she's a troublesome individual," replied a male voice she recognized as Roman.

"Who's the boy?" came the female voice again.

'There's no mistaking it, I'd recognize my home's accent anywhere,' she realized as her heart skipped a beat.

"One of her friends, we needed him to keep Red cooperative, don't worry we'll dispose of him after this," answered Roman.

"No we'll take him off your hands, the doctor needed a new test subject anyway, besides a little extra security doesn't hurt," informed the female.

Red felt her blood became ice at this and had to consciously keep herself from trying to break out of the grasp of the grunt. 'Ok Red calm down you don't know why but they want you alive, so just make sure that that you stop them doing anything to Jaune.'

"Sure saves us the trouble," he responded and Red felt themselves being handed to another person, mostly likely one of the two guards.

"Our payment," demanded the crook.

"You'll find 20 RPG launchers and 50 automatic rifles along with the ammunition required in the crates behind you," she replied crisply.

"It's all there boss," came another voice, presumably from one of Roman's henchmen.

"Pleasure doing business with you," called Roman.

Red heard the sound of footsteps walking away before she and Jaune were thrown over a shoulder and they felt the new captors walk back to their truck. Red stifled a grunt as the two of them were thrown into the back and heard the doors shut as the trio climbed into their seats.

"Captain I don't think it's a good idea to give terrorists weapons," commented one of the two males.

'That's a different accent!' Red strained her ears trying to piece together the accent with a place. She tried to crawl closer but Jaune's unconscious form made it difficult to do so without being spotted.

"Don't worry Lieutenant, Command has rigged those munitions to explode after a 24 hour time period hopefully taking their dust stockpile with it," replied the Captain.

"Smart, the cops will think that the White Fang are the cause of the explosion, either deliberately or accidentally while we get away scott free," commented the other male.

Red felt cold as her brain matched a country to the second male's accent, 'that's a British accent.'

"But Captain intel said that the White Fang use residential areas as bases, with a blast that size there will be civilian casualties!" argued the Lieutenant.

'And that's American! What's going on here?' she realized, struggling to keep her breathing under control.

"Do I care? We have our orders Lieutenant and I intend to follow them now stand down or I'll have you court marshalled," threatened the female.

"You bitch! Do you know how many will die because of you!" screamed Red before cursing, realizing what she'd done.

"Well looks like our little possum decided to stop playing dead," said the British male.

"Take care of her," ordered the Captain before Red felt something hit her in the face and everything went dark.

* * *

"…Incredible it's true, Remnant and Earth aura in a single being without harming the host," breathed a male voice with what seemed to be a German accent.

Red opened her eyes and groaned as light flooded her vision, attempting to bring her arm over her head only to feel it strapped down to something. Forcing her eyes open again she took a quick look around what looked like an operating room, she was strapped down to a bench with leather straps. Glancing over she saw Jaune was across from her in a similar set up but still seemed to still be out. Hearing voices she turned her head to see two people examining a computer screen, one was a male in a lab coat and the other was a blonde female in want looked like burnt yellow desert camo armour, short blonde hair and what looked to be two shotguns strapped to her back. Red gasped, the woman looked like an older version of Yang with shorter hair, even her aura was similar. In some ways it was her sister's aura but at the same time it was different, a more twisted almost darker version of it. 'What' going on here?' she thought alarmed.

"Was she really worth all this trouble? We had to reveal ourselves to the White Fang to get her," question the blonde skeptically.

'That's the Captain,' she realized keeping quiet as she listened, trying to ignore the growing sense of unease.

"Oh absolutely if we can figure out how she naturally got both auras then we might be able to replicate it with our soldiers," he said with no small amount of enthusiasm.

"You know, you look good with that hair style," he commented absent mindedly, glancing up from the computer screen.

"Don't get used to it, Command thought that a woman walking around with a military buzz cut was too conspicuous," she informed him.

"I heard about your Lieutenant, Stan wasn't it? How did you punish him for his little insurrection?" asked the male.

"A demotion before shipping him off to one of our new outposts in Remnant," she replied. "Putting that aside are you sure you can hold her?"

"Don't worry my dear we've designed these specifically to contain Remnant aura users," assured the doctor.

"What about the Earth aura, we have enough trouble containing normal Ferals let alone one that has Remnant abilities," she pointed out.

The doctor waved his hand at her, "not to worry, the results from the tests so far seem to indicate that while her Remnant aura is active most of her Earth aura is dormant, only her mild precognitive abilities and some sensory information enhancers seem active. It might be that her Remnant aura is suppressing the Earth one."

"I see," replied the blonde as she turned around to face Red, a brief look of surprise on her face.

"I thought you said you had them under sedatives," she growled at him.

The doctor looked up confused, "of course I did I'm not an amateur," he replied turning around, blinking as he saw Red awake.

"How…odd the sedatives seem to still be entering the body but they're having little to no effect," he commented, examining one of the many tubes connecting to her body.

"Where am I and who are you people?" demanded Red.

"You're in The Watchers auxiliary base, in the Australian Capital Territory. Not that that means anything to you," he commented offhandedly.

'You'd be surprised you fucker,' she thought trying to keep her expression neutral. Judging from the suspicious glare from the Captain she wasn't entirely successful.

"Where's that? Some part of Vytal?" she asked, playing along.

"It doesn't matter, now tell me how did you get two different types of aura? They are supposed to be incompatible with the other," he asked, intrigued.

"Red, Ruby Rose, Huntress in training at Beacon academy," she replied.

The doctor frowned and repeated his question only to get the same response, sighing he nodded to the female soldier whom punched Red in the face. Again he asked and again Red got punched in the face this time coughing up blood.

After five minutes of continuous punishment he ordered the Captain to stop, "I must admit I'm impressed I didn't know Beacon taught you what to do in an interrogation situation, you must have a high pain threshold to take her punches without your aura shielding you."

The doctor sat down and began fiddling with what looked to be a tablet of some kind, "Remnant auras healing abilities truly are amazing, it is there greatest strength but also an exploitable weakness. Did you know that if you flood the body with highly toxic chemicals, your aura stops all other functions as it tries to expel the toxins, including your self-healing abilities? Now I'll ask you again and this time I expect an answer or I'll have your friend Leah here stop playing nice."

Red looked up to him with a grin, "Go…to…hell," she panted.

"Pity, Captain if you would," he said getting up from his chair.

Red watched as Leah nodded and unholstered one of her shotguns, loading it as she walking over to Jaune and placed it against his head. Red glanced between the doctor and the Captain, her sedative filled brain only just realizing the severity of the situation. 'They aren't bluffing,' she realized as she noted the expression on the two.

"Now Miss Rose was it? Pay attention, this is what happens when I don't get what I want," he stated calmly.

"Wait! Ok I'll talk just get her to put the bloody gun down," she cried.

The doctor looked to his companion who nodded and place the weapon back in its holster as she walked over to them. Red noted however that the soldier's hand never left the weapon's handle as she watched over her. 'The best lies are the ones with a grain of truth to them,' she thought planning what to say.

"Well Miss Rose we are waiting," commented the doctor.

"I was born with the auras," she explained, getting a surprised look from him.

"I see did any of your family have these auras as well?" he asked.

Red frowned, "no but members of my family did have two types of aura, depending on where they came from," she answered carefully.

"Interesting so it could be due to family blood lines mixing, did they ever say where they were from," he questioned, leaning forward in the process.

Red was silent until she heard the sound of someone cocking a gun and turned to see Leah ready her shotgun again. "They said they were from a place called Australia!" she cried frantically.

"I don't appreciate being lied to Miss Rose," he replied, his expression darkening.

"I'm not lying!" she shouted.

"Prove it," spat the Captain.

Red sighed and took a deep breath,

"Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong,

Under the shade of a Coolibah tree,

And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boil,

You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me."

She looked up and saw both her captors with expressions of shock on their faces before the Captain growled and walked over to Jaune with her weapon raised.

"What is the capital of Australia? Tell me now or I will kill him," she threatened.

"Canberra!" answered Red quickly.

"What planet are we on?" continued the Captain.

"Earth!" cried Red.

"What is the current Prime Minister of Australia?" she asked.

"Tony Abbott!" she shouted.

Leah lowered her weapon and approached Red again, "you seem to know quite a lot for being someone who only heard of this place from her parents," she finished looking at the doctor.

Red's eyes widened and she cursed, glaring at the soldier with a hate filled expression. The doctor and his companion nodded to each other as he turned to the door.

"Well Miss Rose you've certainly given us some things to think about, we'll let you have some alone time with your friend assuming of course he wakes up," called the doctor as the door slammed shut, leaving Red alone with Leah.

The Captain walked up to Red and leaned towards her ear, "do you hear the whispers?"

Red froze as images of the shadows sprang to her mind, seeing her expression the Captain nodded as if confirming something before following her companion out.

* * *

The dorm seemed to have lost its joyful cheer as the remnants of team RWBY finished another day of unsuccessfully searching Vale for any sigh of Ruby. None of them said anything as they collapsed onto their beds exhausted, each planning their next searching session. It had taken some convincing but they'd finally got Ozpin to allowing them to take time out of class to search for Ruby, stating that they wouldn't be able to get any work done anyway. Blake sighed as she heard quiet sobbing coming from the bunk above her. Yang was taking this the hardest having lost her sister twice in a span of a couple of months, it didn't help that they had no idea what the White Fang wanted with her.

Blake frowned, Yang had a right to be scared and she knew it. The White Fang never went after individuals like this, sure every now and then a Schnee Company board member went missing but that was pure spur of the moment hits. They had never deemed anyone a threat enough to warrant such a carefully planned and orchestrated abduction, they'd even abandoned most of their bases in preparation. 'This isn't right they would never spend so many resources to catch one person, there's something else going on here,' she realized.

"Yang don't worry I've talked to my father he's using all our resources to track them down," assured Weiss.

"Your father would do that for one of your friends?" questioned the Faunus skeptically.

The heiress gave a cunning smile, "I might have told him that I gave her multiple passcodes to our different facilities," she replied.

Blake raised her eyebrows, "how did he take that?" she asked.

"Not very well," she admitted. "He raged and screamed at me. Cut off my allowance for the rest of the year," she shrugged.

Seeing her teammates shocked expression she elaborated, "I've saved up enough lien to last me ten years here, so it's no real issue."

"Weiss I could kiss you," exclaimed Yang as she jumped down from the bed and crushed the heiress in a bear hug.

"Urk…Yang… can't breathe…Blake help!" cried a struggling Weiss.

The Faunus didn't move and instead had to struggling to hold back laughter at the sight of the composed heiress so flustered. After a couple of seconds she couldn't stem the tide anymore and burst into laughter meanwhile Weiss gasped as the blonde finally let go.

"Ok let's start again first thing tomorrow morning," said the brawler.

They both nodded to her and climbed into beds, Blake ignoring the seething glares her white haired teammate was sending her as she got changed. Just as she was about to go to sleep the Faunus heard her scroll go off, 'that's odd only team RWBY and JNPR know my number,' she thought confused. Getting up Blake walked over to her scroll opening it up and froze as she noted the sender's address. It was from Ruby's scroll, immediately she opened it up and read the message before shaking her two teammates awake.

"Blake what is it we need to be well rested for our search tomorrow," growled Yang.

In response Blake just handed the scroll to her causing Yang to frown as she read the message her expression of rage instantly replaced with one of shock.

_Blake we need to talk about your little Red friend. Meet me at Tukson's old book shop in the eastern district at 12pm tomorrow. You may bring your teammates if you wish but no more than that, if anyone else shows up then I'm gone and so is your friend._

"Quick see if you can get the location of the scroll!" cried Weiss.

Eyes widening Yang quickly followed her advice only to growl as an error message popped up, "no good whoever sent the message must have removed the batteries after they sent it," she informed them.

"What do you want to do Yang?" asked Blake.

"We should tell Ozpin about this," suggested Weiss.

"No we don't know how this person is watching us, if we tell the headmaster then they might not show up at all and that's if Ozpin even lets us meet them," argued Blake.

Yang turned to her partner, "Blake they mentioned you by name, do you have any idea who it could be?" she asked.

The Faunus just shook her head causing the blonde to growl in frustration, "ok here's the plan, we rest up completely before we go meet this person tomorrow and beat the answers out of them."

The other two nodded to her, a fire now in their eyes. For the first time they had a lead and no force, heaven or hell was getting in their way, one way or another they would find Ruby.

* * *

Leah turned to the doctor, "we should call Command immediately they'll want to hear about this," she suggested.

He nodded, "what concerns me is how she got to Remnant in the first place. We control the portals between the worlds. Nothing should be able to go between the two without us knowing it, let alone how she managed to obtain a Remnant aura."

The two of them walked into the control room and saluted as the screen came to life revealing a shadowy silhouette, "At ease, what do you have to report?" it asked.

The two of them dropped their salutes as the doctor stepped forward, "Sir there's been a development with project Prometheus, as you know we sent a team to capture a VIP but during her interrogation we discovered something very interesting."

The doctor sent the files from the recent tests before stepping back in line, "While this data is interesting I fail to see why you sought the need to use an emergency channel to report it," responded the figure after a short pause.

Leah stepped forward this time, "Commander we may have a level one security breach," she informed him.

"Explain yourself Captain," demanded the Commander.

"While we were interrogating the prisoner we found out that she used to live on Earth until quite recently from the information retrieved, but none of us have sent her through the portals so either there is a traitor amongst us or the portals are no longer required to cross between worlds," she reported.

There was silence as the two of them waited for a response from their superior, "Captain, doctor, here are your new orders. I want you to find out everything you can about her, who she is, if anyone helped her and most importantly how she got there. I don't care how you do it just get it done," it ordered.

"Yes sir," they replied as the screen went dark.

As they left the room and made their way back to the interrogation chamber she grabbed the doctor by the shoulder, "doc are you sure that her Earth aura is dormant?" she asked.

He frowned, "positive my tests don't lie. Why do you ask?"

"I mentioned the whispers to her and she panicked," replied the Captain.

"A coincidence most likely, after all you need to be at stage two for the whispers to appear whereas she's barely at stage one. I think you might be letting your previous experience cloud your judgment Captain," he reasoned throwing off her hand.

She clenched her fist suppressing a surge of anger, "I hope you're right doc for all our sakes," she growled as they approached the door.

As they approached the door she felt a sudden familiar sense of unease, 'oh no.' Bringing out her shotgun she burst through the door and sure enough both the captives were missing.

"Sound the alarm we've got a security breach!"

* * *

Red tried to strengthen her arm with her aura only to see the bright red outline sputter and die, repeating the process on various parts of the body yielded the same results. 'I guess Frankenstein wasn't lying after all, I can't use my aura,' she sighed closing her eyes. 'Wait a second he said it only stopped Remnant aura not my Earth one, but how do I use it?' she wondered before a spike of pain speared her head again.

"_Uncle Qrow when are we going to start training?" asked Ruby impatiently, getting up from the ground._

"_We are training Ruby," replied Qrow, not moving from his position._

"_But all we've been doing is meditating for the past hour," she cried._

"_There's more to training then sparing Ruby, I'm not letting you near any weapons until you've unlocked you aura," he informed her._

"_Yang told me that you need someone else to do it for you," replied Ruby frowning._

_Qrow chuckled, "if that was the case then how did the first person unlock their aura with no one to help them hmm? While it is true that others can unlock your aura for you it is not the only method," concluded the hunter._

"_So why don't you just unlock it for me?" she growled annoyed._

"_A true hunter has to earn their power not have it given to them," he replied, opening his eyes to look at her._

_Ruby just sighed and returned to her meditating position, "So how do I unlock it then?"_

_Qrow smiled, "clear your mind and focus on your body, feel your chest rise with each breath, your heart pump with each beat, the wind in your hair and on the skin. Now close your eyes, imagine a dam, the biggest and strongest you can and break it. This is a basic visualizing technique that can be used to get in touch with your aura," he instructed._

_Ruby nodded and felt a calm relaxed feeling wash over her, slowly her breathing became slow and steady. As she broke the dam a sudden rush of energy flooded her, snapping her eyes open Ruby saw she was surrounded by a bright red outline._

"_Well done Ruby not many people can ever do this on their first try," congratulated a clapping Qrow._

"Qrow if I ever see you again I'm going to buy you the biggest dinner imaginable," grinned Red.

Closing her eyes she followed his advice and that's when she felt them. Two currents flowing through her body, one a large calm yet vibrant red flowing freely and the other a small dark, wild, almost primal force slowly trickling out as if contained by something. Reaching out to the second she felt resistance coming from the red current, pushing against it she touched the darker aura and felt it begin to rapid spread throughout her body. Instantly Red felt her senses sharpen, she could hear the mice in the walls and smell the scent of her two captors lingering in the room. Giving a triumphant smirk Red forced the dark aura into her arms and opened her eyes to see them outlined in a black colour.

"Ladies and gentleman we are back in business," she cheered, breaking the leather restraints.

Ripping the numerous tubes from her body, she felt a blessed relief as her red aura returned and began the healing process. Rushing over to Jaune she broke his restraints and placed him on her back piggy back style before stumbling as she noted her reflection. Her sliver eyes now had catlike oval pupils instead of circular and the white of her eyes had been replaced by black. Her teeth had sharpened as well, in fact it looked like all her molars had been replaced by sharp canines. Finally her aura outline was neither black nor the familiar bright red, instead it was a darker shade of red almost like blood.

"Well...this is new," she said stunned by her appearance.

Snapping out of it she walked up to the door and found it was predictably locked. "I always wanted to do this," she grinned before sending an aura infused kick into the door.

The door lasted another two kicks before it swung open revealing a narrow hallway, closing the door behind her and securing Jaune she ran down the hallway. Her new sense of smell leading them to the nearest source of fresh air, however as they left the hallway to the nearest room an alarm began to sound. 'Looks like they know we're gone,' she thought before diving back into the nearby room as she heard footsteps approaching.

"Someone get these lights on I can't see anything in this damn hallway," ordered a male voice.

'That's odd I could see just fine,' thought Red confused. She held her breath as they walked past her hideout, praying they wouldn't notice them.

"Sergeant was the door to that room always open?" asked one of them.

The Sergeant didn't respond but Red heard the flick of safeties being removed and two of them began to approach. Taking a deep breath she waited until they had just entered the room before activating her semblance, knocking the two of them out so fast they couldn't even make a sound. But she was momentarily blinded as a flash light hit her face.

"Shit she's gone to stage one, open fire!" ordered the Sergeant.

Red disappeared into rose petals as the wall behind her was peppered with rounds from the squad, realizing she couldn't fight properly with Jaune on her back Red fled as fast as her semblance could carry her. The source of the fresh air was close now as the sound of her pursuers grew fainter, looking ahead she saw the source of fresh air was an open window. 'Oh man this is going to hurt,' she grumbled, not slowing down as she flared her aura around them and jumped through the window. Red grunted as the landed before taking off into the nearby city, smiling as she left the base far behind.

* * *

Jaune awoke to a massive head ache causing him to clutch his head in pain, 'what happened the last thing I remember was talking to Ruby in the cage then everything went black.' Groaning he got up from the bed he'd been placed on and looked around, he found himself in a room full of posters and some sort of computer he didn't recognize on a bench. Curious he examined some of the posters, they seemed to be for a show called Red vs Blue. As he was examined they poster he saw something that made his eyes widen, picking a slim cover he blinked thinking it was some dream but it stayed in his hand.

"What's going on here?" he said confused.

There in his hand was a slim container containing some kind of disc, but what caught his attention was the cover. Written in big letters was 'RWBY' with four pictures that had an uncanny resemblance to a certain team he knew. As Jaune stared at it unbelievingly he jumped hearing the sound of a door opening and quickly shoved it in his hoody.

"Oh Jaune you're up good, here's some clothes I didn't know your size so I estimated, now get changed," ordered Ruby as she threw a pile of clothes at him.

"Where'd you get these?" he asked holding up a shirt.

"Stole them from a local store," she replied before grabbing her own bag.

"Ruby we can't do that give them back right now," he said horrified.

Ruby just gave a dark chuckle, "trust me Jaune right now being arrested for theft is the least of our worries."

"What do you mean?" asked Jaune confused.

"Where do you think we are Jaune?" she asked in return.

He shrugged, "somewhere in Vale," he replied.

"Wrong, we're not even in Remnant," she informed him.

Jaune felt his jaw drop, "but then where are we?" he asked fearfully.

Ruby sighed, "Welcome to Earth Jaune Arc. Now get changed, we need to lay low and being an anime look alike is not the best way to do so."

"Anime? What's that?" replied the knight curiously.

"Never mind just get changed already, my parents will be back from work in an hour and I don't think they'll appreciate two strangers in their house," she growled.

Jaune nodded fearfully and Ruby left the room, presumably to get changed herself. The blonde sighed as he picked out the only clothes in his size. Placing his clothes and the slim case in a bag he walked out to see Ruby reading some sort of large book.

"What's that?" he queried.

Ruby looked up and gave him a sad smile, "it's a photo album, you store photos in it so you can look at them later."

Intrigued he made his way over and saw a picture of a young blonde haired and blue eyed girl laughing with a white haired boy of the same age. He smiled, they seemed so happy he could almost feel the joy radiating from them.

"Who's your friend?" he asked.

"I don't know, I can't even remember how we meet. Everything is just a blur, all I remember is that we were good friends," she replied sadly.

"Ruby I am so sorry," he apologized guiltily.

She just shook her head, "I told you before Jaune I've accepted it, by the way what's with the bag?" she asked.

"Oh I thought it would be a good idea to keep our old clothes in it, you know leave no trace behind," he lied rubbing the back of his neck.

Ruby nodded, "good idea I'll throw mine in there too," she said turning the page.

Jaune let out a sigh of relief and was about to leave her to reminisce when she suddenly dropped the album and grew pale. "Ruby what is it? What's wrong?" he asked concerned.

She turned to him, "Jaune there's something I need to see."

* * *

The sun had disappeared, hiding behind the growing dark storm clouds as they approached the site. It was quiet, no sound of the birds chirping or the wind blowing. The silence created a solemn atmosphere that neither of them were willing to break as they walked along the rows, searching for what they hoped not to find.

"Ruby we can still turn back, you don't need to put yourself through this," said Jaune with a sympathetic look, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Red shook her head, "no Jaune I need to do this, I have to know," she replied.

His look of sympathy rapidly devolved into one of worry, "Ruby there are some things that aren't meant to be seen, things that can break a person. Sometimes it is better to just remain ignorant than risk yourself for that knowledge, remember once something is known it cannot be unknown," warned Jaune.

She shook off his arm and turned away from him, "please Jaune just let me do this," pleaded Red as she walked down the aisles.

The blonde frowned but said nothing as he followed her and the duo continued their search. The first drops of rain began to fall before releasing a deluge on the unfortunate pair, signalling the start of the storm. Still Red didn't mind, in fact she couldn't even feel the cold or rain as she focused only on finding it, she glanced back at Jaune to see him throw his hoody over his head.

"The storm's getting worse Ruby, we need to go!" he called as thunder roared overhead.

Red rounded on him, "then leave you're not even helping anyway!" she snapped briefly glowing a dark red.

Jaune flinched at her tone and she turned away, smothering the guilty feeling growing in the pit of her stomach. Red sighed as she heard the sound of the blonde following her, 'what's wrong with me? Why'd I snap like that?' Blaming it on lack of sleep she returned her attention to the search as they completed yet another row with no success, 'maybe it was a phony photo,' she thought in relief. As they reached another aisle of graves though she felt a chill run down her spine, a chill that was not caused by the storm. Slowly looking down she examined the tombstone in front of her and immediately collapsed to the ground as her legs gave way beneath her. Red yelled into the storm, her cry full of frustration and anguish as tears streamed down the side of her face. Jaune didn't say anything and just gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze as he looked down at the grave, confirming his suspicions.

_Here Lies Laura Doe,_

_Who had many a friend but not a foe,_

_Her smile was a sight to see,_

_A Beacon burning bright._

_We miss her ever so,_

_And where she's gone we cannot go,_

_But to us she'll always be,_

_An everlasting light._

_Farewell Little Red may you rest in peace._

* * *

**Well I had a lot of people wondering what had happened to Red's body...now you know. We finally get our first glimpse into the organisation Roman mentioned awhile back and more detail on Earth aura. Hope you guys enjoyed the new chapter.**

**P.S. If you want an idea of what Leah looks like just follow the link below but give her shorter hair, desert camo and shotguns as the weapons.**

** art/Battlefield-4-RWBY-Squad-416242425**


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